O.J. Simpson will challenge the Los Angeles Police Department.
He will challenge his slain ex-wife's character.He will challenge a seemingly damaging photograph.
But the focus of his defense will be on one man and one man alone - O.J. Simpson.
In 41/2 hours of remarks that consumed nearly all of Thursday's court session, defense lawyer Robert Baker portrayed Simpson as the true victim - a man who was "wrongly accused" and ended up spending "490 days in solitary confinement for two murders he did not commit."
"If you believe O.J. Simpson, you must find him not responsible" for the slayings, he told jurors.
In placing most of the burden on the testimony of his client, Baker raised the stakes in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Simpson by the relatives of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Simpson, who enjoys no rights against self-incrimination from his acquittal on criminal charges, must testify this time around. Lawyers say he could be on the stand for several days.
After two days of opening statements by four lawyers, testimony begins Friday. The first witness on the plaintiff's list is Karen Crawford, a manager at the restaurant where Goldman worked and one of the last people to see him alive.
Baker, a veteran civil trial lawyer, offered a long, uneven opening statement, that at one moment was touching - as when he spoke of Simpson's suicidal urges during the Bronco chase - and at other times rambling.
He ended in a near whisper, telling the panel of 20 jurors and alternates, "You will conclude that Mr. Simpson is wrongly accused. You will conclude that Mr. Simpson would not, could not, kill anyone."
Baker opened his case with a withering attack on Nicole Simpson's character, describing her emotional state as "erratic," suggesting she may have suffered a drinking problem and sketching a social scene filled with unsavory characters, including prostitutes and drug abusers.
The lawyer said Nicole Simpson was promiscuous after her breakup with Simpson and aborted a lover's baby.
In contrast, Baker described Simpson's interest in his ex-wife's life as welcome and nurturing, portraying him as the voice of reason in the relationship, a man who was "her confidant, her friend, not her stalker."