SIMPSON'S WORTH DEBATED : JURY DELIBERATES PUNITIVE PHASE OF CIVIL TRIAL.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

Angrily denouncing O.J. Simpson as a liar, a killer and a coward, lawyers asked a jury Friday to make the former NFL great pay heavily in the 1994 slashing deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

But Simpson's lawyers asked jurors to punish, not destroy, the former NFL star and father.

The same six-man, six-woman jury that found Simpson liable in the killings Tuesday deliberated 2-1/2 hours before breaking for the weekend. They will return Monday morning to continue talks.

During their closed-door talks Friday, jurors asked to see a statement showing both the plaintiffs' rosy picture of Simpson's financial future and a defense depiction of his net worth plummeting from over $10 million to less than zero since his murder acquittals in 1995.

Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki advised the jury that the amount of punitive damages is left ``to your sound discretion.'' Only nine jurors need agree on an amount.

The mostly white jury unanimously awarded Fred Goldman and his former wife, Sharon Rufo, $8.5 million in compensatory damages Tuesday, and the family could recover millions more in punitive damages.

The estate of Nicole Brown Simpson can only recover punitive damages under the survivorship action brought against Simpson by her parents.

In an emotional finale to the case - which included Simpson's sister Shirley Baker storming from the courtroom after uttering expletives - plaintiff's lawyer Daniel Petrocelli urged the jury to strip Simpson of his wealth ``for killing two people and walking away from it scot-free.''

``You must send him a message as loud as humanly possible so he can hear it on whatever golf course he is hiding out on right now,'' Petrocelli said. ``You send him a message: You can't kill two people and get away with it.

``I know and I trust you will do the right thing.''

Simpson's lawyer Robert Baker told the jury members they were being manipulated.

``My worthy adversaries are trying to get you to substitute punitive damages for incarceration. You're not allowed to do that,'' Baker said. ``Mr. Simpson still has obligations. He has to raise his two kids.

``. . . Mr. Simpson has negative net worth, and if Mr. Simpson has negative net worth, it's just destructive. It's contrary to law,'' he said.

In his final words to the jury, Baker noted that Simpson was already $850,000 in debt before Tuesday's judgment against him for $8.5 million in compensatory damages.

Simpson was not in court during the two days of testimony. He was golfing with others at Rancho Park late Friday when a twin-engine airplane crash landed on the course near the 20th Century Fox studios.

``I don't believe he was anywhere near the plane coming down. I could almost swear to it,'' the Rancho Park course manager, who declined to give her name, said of Simpson.

Plaintiffs claim Simpson has a net worth of $15.7 million, largely based on his future earning potential from autograph and memorabilia sales, trademark licensing, endorsements, and books and audio tapes.

A few weeks after the slaying, Petrocelli noted, Simpson applied for six trademark licenses, among them ``O.J. Simpson'' jewelry, toys and cutlery.

``Knives, O.J. Simpson knives,'' Petrocelli sneered.

At one point, the lawyer wondered out loud how a man pleading poverty can live in a mansion, drive a Bentley, and maintain a personal staff that includes a $100,000-a-year lawyer, personal secretary, bodyguard, gardener, housekeeper and pool cleaner?

``Don't be fooled by the idea he's going to walk off into the sunset and get a job at McDonald's,'' Petrocelli said.

Simpson's older sister cursed out loud, ``You a------,'' at plaintiffs' attorney Peter Gelblum after the lawyer noted that Simpson owns a $250,000 house in San Francisco that he can sell after the death of his mother, Eunice, 75, who has lived there since 1969.

Heads turned. And Shirley Baker's husband, Benny, followed her out of the courtroom.

In testimony Friday, defense witnesses insisted that the market for Simpson memorabilia has dried up.

Leroy ``Skip'' Taft, Simpson's longtime friend and business manager, said that magazine list prices for Simpson items are meaningless without a market. ``Show me the money! That's the deal,'' Taft shouted under cross examination.

In Simpson's glory days as a football commentator, a Hertz spokesman and an actor, Simpson's earnings approached $2.5 million a year. But those days are over, Taft said.

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Photo

Photo: Shirley Baker, left, sister of O.J. Simpson, and his niece Terri Baker leave the courtroom.

Associated Press