O.J.: Unpublished Book Not A Confession

O.J. Simpson says a chapter from the unpublished book "If I Did It," which tells a hypothetical tale of how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend, was created mostly by a ghostwriter from research the writer did and is not a confession.

Newsweek's current issue publishes a story paraphrasing the chapter, which the magazine said it had obtained from an anonymous source.

The chapter, "The Night in Question," closely mirrors the evidence in the Simpson case, according to Newsweek. Using crude language, Simpson describes how Nicole, the "enemy," practically drove him to kill her by taunting him with her amorous affairs and inappropriate conduct, Newsweek writes.

Days after acknowledging it was publishing the book in November, News Corp. changed its mind and canceled the book.

In "If I Did It," Simpson describes how, on the night of the murders, he would have parked in a dark alley behind Nicole Simpson's house. After grabbing a knife from his Bronco and putting on a knit wool cap and gloves, Simpson enters Nicole's property and encounters Ronald Goldman, according to the Newsweek account of the book. Simpson then accuses Goldman of planning a sexual encounter with Nicole. At that point, Simpson writes, Nicole comes running at him like a "banshee." She loses her balance and cracks her head against the ground, while Goldman assumes a karate stance, according to Newsweek.

At this point in the book, Simpson says, "Then something went horribly wrong, and I know what happened, but I can't tell you exactly how," according to Newsweek.

By the time he regains control, Simpson writes, he is covered in blood and Nicole and Goldman are dead. Before getting into his Bronco, Simpson writes, he strips down to his socks and rolls his bloody clothes and the knife into a small pile.

That's an important detail, Newsweek points out, because police never recovered Simpson's clothes or the murder weapon.

Simpson's book differs from the prosecution's theory of the real case in one major way. In Simpson's telling, he is accompanied by a friend he calls Charlie, an unwilling accomplice who repeatedly urges Simpson to stop what he is doing, according to Newsweek. Los Angeles police never found evidence to charge anyone else.

The idea of a second man is absurd, says Fred Goldman, Ron's father. "This is the guy who murdered them — of course he knows what the evidence is and how he did it," Goldman told Newweek.

By the end of the chapter, Newsweek says, Simpson returns to his familiar public stance. He is outraged that people believe he committed the murders. He tells his lawyers that he is, "absolutely 100 percent not guilty."