When O.J. Simpson was convicted for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman in civil court in February 1997, a jury of his peers found the Hall of Famer liable for damages of $12.5 million to the Brown family and $19.5 million to the Goldman family.

But that money hasn’t replaced the satisfaction of seeing Simpson brought to justice – especially since he hasn’t paid a dime. The fees increase by 10% each year, fully doubling in the decade since the judgment.

Shortly after the guilty verdict in civil court, Simpson took refuge in debtor-friendly, right-to-work Florida, where his home, his NFL pension, and his earnings were safeguarded from debtors, chief among the Goldman family, who have been particularly diligent in their efforts to make Simpson pay.

Writes Fred Goldman about the family’s collection woes: “we have been chasing [Simpson for years] and he has consistently escaped our reach. He has surrounded himself with a team of “professionals” that vow, as he does, that they will do whatever they can to avoid honoring that judgment.”

All hope seemed lost until Simpson was approached by the HarperCollins publishing house and offered a $1 million advance to write a book about “how” he “would have” committed the murders. But News Corp. owner Rupert Murdock pulled the project after a rash of negative press that sprang from the Goldman family’s objections to the project.

Using the $38 million Simpson owes them as a “credit card,” the Goldmans acquired the manuscript. Upon discovering that the text read more like a confession than a “how-to” manual — which was their initial concern — they came to feel the message worth spreading. A confession, they thought, no matter how late, and no matter the lack of legal remedy, was a confession just the same, and as such should reach the widest possible audience, and not the censor’s torch.

But while If I Did It has been both coveted and controversial, its contents are disappointing.

The Chapter in Question

There’s only one reason anyone would ever care to buy If I Did It, and that’s to know “the rest of the story” of what happened the night of the grisly double homicide.

But the chapter starts off shakily and never recovers. The most unbelievable (as in, not believable) part of “The Night in Question,” the book’s “it” chapter, is the sudden appearance of “Charlie.” An acquaintance of O.J.’s from the L.A. dinner party scene, “Charlie” swung by Simpson’s house unannounced on the night of the murders, to tell him that Nicole was making time with a rough crowd and that O.J. should “do something” to save her from herself.

Off the two men went, headed for Brown’s condominium. The next thing we see is Simpson, drenched in blood, looking down at his slain wife and her friend, asking “Charlie” what just happened.

Any writer worth his salt can transport you to a different world with his words. As such “The Night in Question” is a disappointment not only for its stunning lack of details about the murders (there are none), but because we the reader really can’t “see” what Charlie would be doing while the murders were taking place.

To believe in the existence of “Charlie” you’d also have to believe that a person would watch two brutal murders at close range without

• (a) participating in them
• (b) preventing them
• (c) or leaving and calling the police

Wrote Fenjves about the mystery man: “I didn’t believe there was a “Charlie” and I still don’t.” This may explain why he didn’t feel the need to make “Charlie’s” presence in the book the least bit plausible.

Those who smile at irony must appreciate that, while the Goldman family sells Simpson’s book and ensure that their son’s legacy lives on, O.J. Simpson awaits trial in April for kidnapping and armed robbery.

Simpson tempted fate once, but it’s tough to imagine lightning striking twice, especially since onetime Simpson defenders Robert Kardashian and Johnnie Cochran are dead, and sympathy for The Juice may have evaporated even if his fame has not.

Today, between the deaths in the “dream team” and Simpson’s alienation of former sympathizers who surely can’t be happy to see him attempt to cash in on the very murders he denied committing, there’s really no “Amen corner” for O.J. anymore.

There’s also no boogeyman like the LAPD to do sloppy police work and distract from the matter at hand, and no Marcia Clark to get out lawyered. No. Just a man, his very recognizable voice on the tape of a robbery, and his co-conspirators who took deals to testify against him.

Much like Al Capone going to prison for tax evasion rather than his more serious — but unproven — crimes, Simpson’s punishment for alleged kidnapping and armed robbery will no doubt be more severe than the result of his double homicide trial.

America may never learn “what really happened” that fateful night in Brentwood, and If I Did It will put them no closer. But for the chance to finally close the book on O.J., we should all be thankful.