Rosey Grier says his talks with Simpson were confidential

Jet, Jan 9, 1995

Former football star Rosey Grier recently testified in the O.J. Simpson case that his jailhouse conversations with Simpson were confidential because he was there as a "minister of God."

"A minister hears a lot of things he keeps to himself," Grier said about the Los Angeles County jail conversations partially overheard by sheriff's deputies.

The football star-turned minister testified at a hearing in which defense lawyers tried to keep prosecutors from seeing the deputies' statements about the conversations, filed with the court in late November.

Defense lawyers said they had ascertained from Simpson and Grier that the deputies had heard nothing incriminating.

Lawyer Gerald Uelmen said Simpson was asserting his penitent-clergyman privilege to talk with Grier without being subject to eavesdropping.

"We are dealing with somebody overhearing a portion of a conversation out of context," Uelmen said. "For that portion to be revealed violates the privilege."

Neither side has seen the statements, which were not made public.

In court, Grier declined to reveal what he and his old friend Simpson discussed beyond religious matters.

Grier said his role as a minister included giving absolution or taking confession.

He testified he typically visited Simpson twice a week. "We would go over the scripture," he said. "We pray, we discuss various people in the Bible--problems they had."

Grier said he too once felt desperate and therefore thought he could counsel Simpson. "I told him I knew there was hope. There was a reason to live."

"Were you there as a minister of God?" defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran asked.

"Yes sir," Grier responded, an open Bible in front of him.

Meanwhile, in other developments, prosecutors are hoping to introduce into evidence some photos of a bruised and cut Nicole Brown Simpson. The photos reportedly show a bruise on her forehead and injuries to her left eye. Prosecutors seized the pictures in November from a safe deposit box Nicole Brown Simpson had at a Los Angeles bank.

The photos were shot in 1989 after Mrs. Simpson called police to their home when she was allegedly battered by her husband. Simpson pleaded no contest to spousal battery in the 1989 case.

Officials said there are at least four photos that were taken. They did not detail what other items were taken when they opened the box.

Prosecutors want the pictures, as well as those 911 tapes of the alleged violence against Mrs. Simpson, entered as evidence to show that O.J. Simpson engaged in a pattern of domestic violence over the years that led to the murders in June.