EDITORIAL IF HE DID IT ... ... O.J. DESERVES PRISON, NOT A TV AND BOOK DEAL.

THERE'S no denying a certain morbid fascination that makes O.J. Simpson's forthcoming televised ``confession'' compelling.

Like rubbernecks passing a dreadful accident, we feel a curious urge to take a look. At last, we hope, we can get the definitive word about what really happened in the celebrity homicide case that consumed a nation.

But then there's the grim reality that makes this whole project too revolting for even the morbidly fascinated: A man, a publisher and a TV network are making millions off a savage double killing.

Now, the conventions of law and journalism preclude us from saying Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman 12 years ago. He was, after all, found not guilty -- although hardly anyone believes that the jurors got it right or that ``the real killers'' could still be out there, plotting to murder some other celebrity wife-beater's spouse and her acquaintance.

But let's get real.

Simpson's account of what would have happened ``if'' he had done it is of no interest to anyone absent the widespread belief that he did, in fact, do it. We couldn't care less how an innocent man might imagine a hypothetical crime he didn't commit -- but we do want to know what a double killer was thinking, why he did it and how.

This is why ``If I Did It'' stands to attract millions of television viewers next week, and sell millions of copies when it's released as a book. And it's why sleazy publisher Judith Regan reportedly paid $3.5 million for what she describes as O.J's ``confession.''

It's also why we should all resist the temptation to watch this exploitative trash.

Simpson probably already has received his money, no doubt in some underhanded way that allows him to escape paying the $33.5 million debt he owes to the Brown and Goldman families. But Regan and Fox, which is airing what amounts to a tawdry infomercial, deserve to lose every penny they've put into it. And the sponsors, if there are any, should only lose customers for bankrolling it.

The saga of O.J. Simpson is a sordid spectacle that's gripping in its own horrific way, but this is a chapter best left unwatched.