Lawyers should probably be more cognizant of cameras — especially one who represents O.J. Simpson.
While Simpson and his counsel were waiting for the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners to return from their deliberations on Thursday, attorney Malcolm LaVergne made a few cracks at the expense of Jeffrey Felix, former Lovelock Correctional Center prison guard and author of “Guarding the Juice.”
“Who would believe anyone with a mullet like that? And high hair?” LaVergne asked, referring to Felix’s hairdo.
“Yeah, he’s a one-and-only, that’s for sure,” Simpson responded. Watch the video above.
Simpson, LaVergne and unknown people in the hearing room appeared to be discussing an apparent “fight” at Lovelock that Felix had claimed to break up to keep Simpson from getting written up for an infraction. The other parties in the room were barely audible.
“He saved you, ya know? He saved you,” LaVergne sarcastically said to Simpson, his opinion of Felix’s story clearly dripping with sarcasm. “He saved you from having any infractions, because you were gonna get written up for it, right? You were gonna get written up, and he intervened, so he saved you. He’s your savior.”
“Thank you,” Simpson replied in imitation of his lawyer’s mockery, throwing his hands up, shaking his head and smiling to others not on camera.
LaVergne got a bit more sincere later, though it is unclear whether or not he was reminded that the mics were still recording.
“It’s disrespectful to the C.O.s here. The real C.O.s,” LaVergne said. “Who do this job here all the time and have done a great job. And Mr. Simpson has always spoken phenomenally well of the conditions here and how he’s been treated. And so I just think it’s just a disgrace.”
“This guy is unbelievable,” Simpson added. “This was guy was never even assigned to my portion of the prison — ever.”
The soon-to-be paroled Simpson said he’d only even seen the ex-correctional officer occasionally out in the yard, where he said Felix would tell “crazy” stories from behind a fence — like that one time he was apparently kicked out of his kid’s baseball game, when Felix may or may not have actually have been officiating.
“I mean, he was funny, I’ll give him that,” Simpson said. He later called Felix’s reach for the spotlight “shameless.”
Felix, who has proclaimed himself to be O.J.’s “best friend” in prison, has been making the rounds on television, publicly changing his former opinion that Simpson should be paroled.
He now says Simpson should have stayed behind bars. During each appearance, Felix had a tendency to plug his book early and often. And yes, he has a killer mullet.