but a civil court could find simpson liable for killing ron and nicole. and that meant filing a wrongful death lawsuit. if simpson lost he wouldn t go to prison but may have to pay damages to the families. of course this wasn t about the money. for us the pursuit of justice is incredibly important to the honor and integrity of what my brother went through the night that he was stabbed to death. off ought goldman s hired a relatively unknown attorney, named dan petrocelli to represent them. he had never handled a case that involved murder. petrocelli would argue the case here in santa monica where the jury would be selected from a largely white population. unlike in the criminal case, the burden of proof was lower this jury wouldn t have to agree unanimously on a verdict. and as a matter of law, o.j. simpson would have no choice but to testify in pretrial dech s