U.S.

O.J. Off The Hook

October 18, 2001 / 10:17 AM EDT / AP

O.J. Simpson was acquitted of all charges Wednesday after another motorist accused him of snatching his glasses and scratching his face during a road-rage incident.

Simpson put his hand to his chest and mouthed 'thank you' as he nodded his head to the jury. He then hugged his attorneys.

He had faced up to 16 years in jail had he been convicted of auto burglary and battery for last year's confrontation with Jeffrey Pattinson in their suburban Miami neighborhood.

The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Abbe Rifkin did everything but call Simpson a liar, saying the actor came out in him as he testified.

"He is a figment of his own imagination. He's a legend in his own mind. He has a sense of entitlement," she said. "Mr. Simpson's story changes and evolves with time."

Defense attorney Yale Galanter said Pattinson had chased down Simpson to provoke a confrontation after Simpson turned in front of him at a stop sign.

"Pattinson became a vigilante. That's what he does. He doesn't seek out help," Galanter said. "He wants to play cop instead of calling a cop."

Rifkin accused Simpson of trying "to muddy up the waters" in a simple case caused by a "notorious," enraged celebrity who offered different versions of his story to fit the developing evidence.

"The question is, was Mr. Pattinson inside of his car? Did Mr. Simpson reach in and grab his glasses off his face?" she said.

The drivers offered vastly different accounts of what happened. Pattinson testified that Simpson, 54, ran a stop sign, then stopped after Pattinson honked his horn and flashed his high beams.

Simpson denied reaching into the car and said the men confronted each other outside their vehicles after Pattinson left his brights on and was "sitting on his horn."

He said Pattinson lied about staying in his car, which led Rifkin to ask Tuesday whether Simpson would ever lie. Simpson responded, "I've never been put in that position to have to lie with my life on the line."

Simpson offered no explanation for the scratch but explained his thumbprint on the glasses by saying it must have happened when he brushed them away as he broke off their 30-second, profanity-laced confrontation.

Simpson was cleared of criminal charges in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, but a civil jury later ordered him to pay $33.5 million for their deaths. He moved to Florida last year.