Guarding the Juice Paperback – March 1, 2016

It turns out that Felix did not work in the cell blocks but in the canteen, which means he would have had far less contact with OJ than he describes in his book. A lot of his statements "sound" like they could be true. The OJ he describes--kind, friendly, usually patient--is the same OJ that OJ's friends and family have always described. Similarly, his claim that OJ told him that the killings were drug related agrees with the considerable evidence of a drug connection to the killings. His claim that OJ adamantly declared his innocence agrees with what OJ's lawyers, friends, and family have reported, and with what OJ himself has said in numerous public statements. His claim that OJ said that the book If I Did It was ghost written is supported by the fact that the book was indeed ghost written--it was ghost written by Pablo Fenjves, who has never made any secret of his belief that OJ is guilty. And his claim that OJ obviously deeply loved Nicole agrees with what OJ's friends and family have said. But Felix's false claim that he worked in the cell blocks and was quasi-assigned as OJ's special guard makes it hard to trust anything he says.

Not good book. Very boring. Thought it would be more about OJ. I knew there would not be a confession but really it just a story about a guy who is a guard in jail.

I heard the author on Alan Colmbs and was a little intrigued even though he sounded kind of shady in the interview. The book reads cover to cover in about an hour. Sadly that is an hour of my life I won't get back.

I feel like I need a shower after reading this. Total money grab on the so called authors part. I'm just sad that I added to his bank account.

Book is very short. It is more like a short story! I didnt realize it wasnt an actual normal length book. And it doesn't seem ethical for a former prison guard to tell things about his famous prisoner.

This book is in my opinion not what I thought it was going to be. I did like the author and how he talked. It was like listening to a story my friend was telling me. Even though I enjoyed reading this book it didn't give me what I was thinking it would.. I thought it would be more detailed, I imagined there would be a lot more in depth conversation specifics in this book. The reason i purchased this book was because I saw this guard on tv saying he wrote a book about his time guarding oj and that oj pretty much confessed of the murders after reading this book I do not consider what happened to be a confession. I guess I assumed there would be more details into oj's prison life and that there was actually going to be a confession. This book was fun to read but not really if your looking to get to know oj now. Again I did like how the author wasn't trying to be someone he wasn't and some of the stories were really funny maybe its just me but it wasn't what I expected at all

Jeffrey Felix noted in the Introduction to this 2016 book, “I was offered a sizeable bribe not to publish this book. By O.J. Simpson. So say my former co-workers at Lovelock Correctional Center, where I was a prison guard for 20 years… I was O.J.’s most trusted confidante during the first seven years of his only prison stay. He called me his ‘best friend after A.C.,’ referring to Al Cowlings… That’s not an honor that struck me as particularly honorable. You see, I know that O.J. Simpson killed his ex-wife… and waiter Ronald Goldman … Not because he admitted it to me (I don’t think he’s admitted it to anyone---including himself). I know because… the evidence was overwhelming… But I also know for a personal reason. When you get to know someone extremely well, you know when that person is lying, or being deceptive.” (Pg. 4-5)

He explains, “It didn’t surprise me that prison management quickly took notice of my friendship with O.J. How could they not? There were cameras everywhere and O.J. made a beeline for me whenever I walked onto the yard.” (Pg. 30) He notes, “Once my supervisors at the prison saw the trust O.J. placed in me, they made being his best friend part of my job. They looked the other way when I was late for gun-post duty due to a heart-to-heart in Simpson’s cell about his dead sister, or when I couldn’t be on the yard because O.J. asked me to do him a personal favor… This all made perfect sense. If anything ever happened to O.J…. our house would immediately be cleaned from top to bottom. Every officer would be fired. No one’s career can survive the intensity of ‘what went wrong?’ media scrutiny like that.” (Pg. 6-7)

He describes Simpson in prison: “he’s one of the coolest, most well-behaved, respectful people you’ve ever met.” (Pg. 5) “O.J. Simpson is the most model prisoner I ever met in my 20 years as a prison guard. He treats everybody he encounters with respect and warmth, never talks down or flies off the handle, and regularly helps de-escalate problems between other inmates… If you had no idea who he was in the past, you would have no qualms inviting him over to dine with your family once he got out.” (Pg. 43)

He acknowledges, “I never lost sight of the dark side of my new BFF. O.J. Simpson is a heinous criminal. There is no doubt in my mind that he murdered two innocent people… Yet at the same time I’m not going to deny how cool it felt to have the ear of one of my childhood idols on a daily basis… How to handle being star-struck was not part of [my] job training… And so I did the worst thing imaginable for a guard: I let my guard down. I let O.J. inside my head…” (Pg. 42-43) He adds, “resolving this tension meant learning to see O.J. as neither mensch nor monster. To me, he was more like a Dr. Jekyll who decided to stop drinking magic potions…after it was too late to matter.” (Pg. 46)

He describes watching a 20th anniversary TV program of the “Bronco chase” with Simpson, who told him: “‘I was really gonna kill myself…’ … He pointed to the … TV screen, at all the people lining the highways and overpasses… ‘You see them all cheering for me?... They were my inspiration not to commit suicide.’” (Pg. 12)

He observes, “After his first year inside, I noticed O.J. attending more [religious] services at the prison chapel… He began talking about church on the yard with other inmates. Then a Bible appeared next to his bed. He explained that religion was good because he needed to keep his head up and being a religious person in prison will do that… But in 2013, O.J.’s appeal for a re-trial was denied and his spirit crushed. Faced with four or more years in the slammer, he decided to try something different---something suggested to him on the outside by … Mike Tyson. The Elders of Islam, the official Lovelock Muslim prisoners organization, couldn’t have been more overjoyed by O.J.’s decision to convert… But O.J. wasn’t ready to turn his back on Jesus… So a period of intense confusion ensured, as the Koran joined the Bible by O.J.’s bedside… There was one thing O.J. loved more than Allah, however, and that was sweets. Ramadan… requires all Muslims to fast between dawn and sunset each day for a month, and the Juice just couldn’t do it… Not wanting to lose their star recruitment tool, [the Elders told him]… ‘Make up the Ramadan at a later date.’… This was the point, I believe, at which O.J. lost faith in Islam… Within a week, the Bible was back.” (Pg. 70-74)

He states, “after about a year of nonstop tabloid speculation that O.J. was more to Khloe [Kardashian] than just a pretend uncle, I decided to exploit my unprecedented access and ask… O.J. replied that no, he was not Khloe’s biological father. He and [Robert Kardashian] were best friends, he told me, so he would never ‘tap’ Kris. You can sort of tell when the Juice believes a story he’s telling you… because he’ll look you straight in the eye… One thing I’ll always remember about the way O.J. answered that question is how he glanced downward while doing so. Personally, I think the affair may have happened, but that, if so, O.J. deeply regrets it and cares too much about Khloe… to risk causing her any further pain by revealing it.” (Pg. 82-83)

Later, he adds, “Bruce Jenner’s gender transition took the kids in the family by surprise. It shocked them silly, according to O.J. And, just as shockingly, it was O.J. who provided the voice of sanity to help them deal with their emotions. O.J. immediately accepted Bruce’s journey into Catilyn… I think O.J. saw supporting Caitlyn as a way to atone for his rejection of his father… To someone who cut his own father out of his life for being involuntarily different, I’m positive he felt that helping a friend through gender reassignment would have a healing effect. Unfortunately for O.J., Caitlyn didn’t want that support. O.J. told me that one of the Kardashians … told him she heard Caitlyn call O.J. ‘a murderer who deserved to be in prison for the rest of his miserable life.’” (Pg. 85-86)

He says, “You have no idea how many times I was dying to interrupt O.J. and say: ‘Well, if you loved [Nicole] so much, then maybe you shouldn’t have killed her.’ But I was always curious to hear more, never to cut it off, to see where he might take it. It was like a reality show shot and screened just for me.” (Pg. 88) He adds, “you don’t get to remain a confidante by asking, ‘Hey O.J., be honest, did you kill Nicole and Ron?’ (By the way, O.J. insists that If I Did It: Confession of the Killer… was not written by him; that he was paid only not to dispute it…)” (Pg. 89)

He adds, “There was one [conversation]… that nearly resulted in a confession, however… I didn’t confront, I asked: ‘Do you have anything you’d like to get off your chest about the murders?’ He shared with me a cryptic statement that he later pretended never slipped out: ‘Only two people alive know the truth: me and Al Cowlings.’ Then he immediately changed the subject…” (Pg. 91) He continues, “Shortly before my retirement, O.J. broached an admission for the second time. He didn’t say THE WORDS, only that he ‘wishes he could do it all over again and change things.’ … ‘Would you still look at me the same way if I did something in my lifetime that was horrible, Felix?’… I told him that yes, I would. And that wasn’t a lie, because I never thought he didn’t kill Nicole and Ron. That was as close as I was going to get.” (Pg. 92-93)

In their last meeting when Felix was about to retire, “O.J. thanked me for my friendship, I thanked him for teaching me a few things I didn’t realize about myself. It’s true, though. I became a better father and son thanks to a double-murderer. After about 40 minutes, O.J. stood up and hugged me. He asked me to please not repeat any of our conversations to anyone.” (Pg. 96) [Felix had noted earlier that the nondisclosure agreement had had been required to sign as an employee, no longer applied after he retired; pg. 7-8]

Even though co-written with a professional author, this book is not going to win any awards for literary style. But it covers a period in the Simpson saga not dealt with in other books (e.g., Confession: How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder). And one should probably take Felix’s statements with a few grains of salt. But ‘caveat emptor,’ and the book will interest those wanting information about Simpson’s recent life.

Expected lots more info on OJ.

If you have family members who are CO in any prison this brings light job side hope my family members who is a C.O. brings humour and empty to their job. So this book is great I did not want to year about on pens but karadashion stuff made me lol