But the detective, Ronald Phillips, testified that from the earliest moments of the case, the police showed extraordinary solicitude for the celebrity defendant.

But what most distinguishes celebrity defendants from their less-famous counterparts, said Blair Berk, a lawyer in Los Angeles who has defended several Hollywood celebrities, is wealth.

This trial was not about unfairly prosecuting a celebrity defendant, but about enforcing the transparency of financial markets.

"The mere fact of intense media coverage of a celebrity defendant, without further compelling justification, is simply not enough to justify closure."

But most experts agree that in a case like this, with a celebrity defendant facing so much evidence against him, most jurors will want to hear denials from Mr. Simpson himself.

Mr. Blake not only fails to live up to the title of most-famous celebrity defendant in Southern California, but he is also debatably not even the most famous murder defendant in Southern California.

Mr. Simpson's subdued, deep-voiced testimony - his first in open court about the murder case that turned him into the celebrity defendant of the decade - is considered the linchpin of his civil trial.

The judges in the cases are struggling to reconcile the rights and appetites of the press, the privacy of people who say they were sexually assaulted and the fair-trial rights of celebrity defendants.

"You don't want the jury to focus on a multimillionaire celebrity defendant who is out there employing more resources."

This is a story about a celebrity defendant and his celebrity lawyers - "When Bad Things Happen to Overexposed People" might be more appropriate.