HAS O.J. INTENTIONALLY SOUGHT SPOTLIGHT WITH HEIST?

Byline: TONY CASTRO

Staff Writer

Betraying the advertising slogan "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," O.J. Simpson's recent arrest in Sin City has thrust the former football star into the international spotlight again amid withering speculation about the psychological health of the man once accused of being a killer.

Held without bail Monday, the 60-year-old Simpson is accused of armed theft after trying to wrestle away his own sports souvenirs from memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The incident is just the latest twist for the high-profile NFL Hall of Famer who some experts say appears to want to get caught for something.

And the latest brush with the law has opened unhealed wounds over Simpson's controversial 1995 acquittal in the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

"Sociologically, what's happening is that many people feel this is poetic justice," says UCLA professor Darnell M. Hunt, who directs the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and wrote a book on the Simpson murder trial.

"If you polled the public right now, I think you'd see that there's quite a bit of sentiment that he's getting what he deserved for what he got away with before."

Adding fuel to the fire, an expletive-laden audiotape was released Monday in which Simpson was apparently heard issuing threats to the dealers.

Clark County Judge Nancy Oesterle denied Simpson bail, saying he was considered a possible flight risk and had no ties to the local community. He is due in court Wednesday and could seek bail then.

But in Los Angeles on Monday, the arrest dominated the local ESPN afternoon talk radio show with former NFL player D'Marco Farr and sidekick Kevin Kiley.

The KSPN-AM (710) hosts suggested that University of Southern California fans petition the school to take down Simpson's retired No. 32 jersey from its place of honor alongside other former Trojan greats at Heritage Hall.

Two noted mental health experts, meanwhile, said Simpson's arrest could be an unconscious attempt to pay a price for his past guilt.

They also noted that Simpson's actions could be a way to snag attention away from the release of his apparent tell-all book, "If I Did It," by the Goldman family.

Simpson was arrested the day the family released the book, hoping to use the proceeds to pay off a $33.5 million damage judgment awarded by a civil court jury that found Simpson responsible for the deaths.

"O.J.'s motive in doing this was an unconscious feeling of guilt, not remorse, for the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman," said Dr. Carole Lieberman, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist who has studied the former football star since his trial in the killings of his ex-wife and Goldman.

"He feels that he should be arrested and in custody for his previous crime. So he unconsciously got himself arrested and in custody for this crime."

Lieberman and Tarzana-based psychologist Nancy Irwin said they believe Simpson's actions in Vegas were an unconscious need to be in the limelight, which they said he might feel was taken from him by the Goldmans on the book.

"It's no coincidence he got into trouble with the law and made headlines the same day 'If I Did It' was released," Lieberman says. "They were getting news for the book. He resented that and wanted to be in control of news himself."

Irwin said Simpson's Las Vegas troubles were in keeping with him being what she called a "narcissistic sociopath."

"O.J. can't help it. He's a sociopath. He's a narcissist," Irwin says. "Did you see when he was smiling on camera when he was arrested? He's proud. He's in control."

Fred Goldman, Ron's father, said he had a similar reaction.

"I guess the first reaction I had to seeing him in handcuffs and walking was he still had that arrogant swagger about him, 'I'm still in charge of the world,'" Goldman told CBS's "The Early Show" on Monday.

"Which is what I think this whole thing is all about. He thinks he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. The world is his stage and he's the master puppeteer."

Simpson argues that the Vegas incident was merely a confrontation with no guns and that autographed collectibles -- including his Hall of Fame certificate, a photograph with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and video from his first wedding -- were all his.

He counters that they were stolen from him and were about to be fenced by unethical collectors.

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter told reporters in Las Vegas that he would fight the charges vigorously.

"We believe it is an extremely defensible case based on conflicting witness statements, flip-flopping by witnesses and witnesses making deals with the government to flip," Galanter said.

Lieberman, who followed the murder trial closely as a commentator for various news outlets, said the Heisman Trophy winner has shown a consistent history of losing rationality to his emotions.

"From the time he was a football player, he was trained to win, and that's still his mentality," Lieberman says. "What's amazing is if you read the book 'If I Did It' and his description of the night of murders, there is this same irrationality on the night of the crime.

"He felt driven to win in his battle with Nicole. He loved her obsessively. And he realized that night that she was never coming back to him. He had to win. Winning meant destroying her.

"It's this same tremendous emotion overtaking his rationality that the (memorabilia) collector describes when he talks about O.J. and his thugs coming into his room. O.J.'s not thinking he could wind up in jail for years. Just thinking revenge or the game he needs to win."

But Hunt believes the arrest may have been inevitable in a climate in which he says Simpson had a "huge target on his back."

"Large portions of the American public feel he got away with murder, and many people would relish the opportunity to stick it to him," Hunt says. "Clearly, my sense is that a lot of people were looking for blood and want to see the book thrown at him."

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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(color) O.J. Simpson, seen in this booking photo, is accused of leading an armed theft to obtain sports memorabilia.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department