It may have been a car chase behind the wheel of a white Ford Bronco that touched off the Trial of the Century, but now another driving incident is putting O.J. Simpson on trial again.

The former football star was found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife and her companion in 1994, but a Miami jury being selected over a road rage incident could convict the infamous defendant of a felony for the first time.

O.J. Simpson's children, Justin and Sydney

Simpson, who now lives in a Miami suburb with his children, is accused of assaulting another driver during a traffic dispute last year.

He faces up to 16 years if convicted, but for one of the most unpopular men in America, Simpson sees the trial as an opportunity to "show people what kind of life I live."

The Dispute

On December 4, 2000 at about 7 p.m., Jeffrey Pattinson, a 55-year-old export company owner, was at the wheel in his Jeep Cherokee.

Pattinson was about a mile away from his home in Kendall, a Miami suburb, traveling westbound on SW 106 Street and about to make a left on 92nd Ave., when he noticed a black Lincoln Navigator go through a stop sign.

Pattinson told police that he slammed on his brakes, honked his horn and flashed his headlights. He proceeded to make the left and continue on his way home, when the Navigator, now in front of him, stopped suddenly, forcing Pattinson to stop his car.

According to the police report, Pattinson saw a black man emerge from the SUV and approach his car shouting, "So I blew the stop sign! What are you going to do, kill me and my kids?"

Still sitting in his driver's seat, Pattinson replied, "What the hell is the matter with you?" according to the report.

It was then that Pattinson recognized Simpson, who allegedly continued to shout at him.

Simpson then allegedly reached through the partially-opened window and grabbed Pattinson's $300 sunglasses off his face, in the process scratching his temple.

At the same time, Pattinson says he heard a girl's voice screaming, "No, Daddy, no Daddy, no!," from the direction of the Navigator.

Pattinson says he grabbed his glasses back from Simpson, who then turned around, returned to his car and sped off. The victim then went home, picked up the telephone and called police to report the run-in.

Police didn't immediately arrest Simpson, but did begin an investigation that included testing the sunglasses for fingerprints. The state attorney's office charged Simpson with assault and burglary of a car, a felony, and battery, a misdemeanor. Simpson surrendered to authorities and was booked at Miami-Dade County jail, but was released on $9,000 bond.

I Want To Tell You

Simpson told police — and the press — another story. Following the incident, Simpson contacted a local FOX affiliate to tell his side of the story. Simpson said that when he saw the Jeep's flashing headlights and heard the honking, he pulled over to let the car pass. When Pattinson didn't pass him, he thought that perhaps the driver was "someone I knew, or maybe I had a flat, or something was wrong with the back of my car."

Simpson claims that when he approached the Jeep, Pattinson yelled at him.

"I've got two kids in this car, guy. What are you doing?" Simpson said he told Pattinson, recounting his version of events for Miami's WSVN-TV.

Simpson claims that Pattinson hurled insults at him, prompting him to tell him "where he could go with it" before simply walking away.

He denies ever touching Pattinson's sunglasses.

Instead, Simpson said at a February press conference that he feels he is being targeted because of the publicity surrounding the murder allegations

"I think whatever took place doesn't warrant this much attention," Simpson said. "I thought it was a non-incident."

But the man acquitted at the "Trial of the Century" has refused any plea offers, and is welcoming a jury trial.

"Because of this happening to me now, it gives me an opportunity to show the citizens of Miami and this country just how out of proportion these things have become," he said at the press conference. "I want to test this to show people what kind of life I live.

No Gloves This Time Around

The key to the case may lie in the case's physical evidence — the sunglasses — which prosecutors say bear a thumb print belonging to the Juice.

During his murder trial, Simpson said the bloody gloves found at the scene were a tight fit — prompting lawyer Johnnie Cochran to declare, 'if it doesn't fit, you must acquit'

In a pretrial hearing held on Oct. 6, Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, sought to have the sunglasses and the fingerprint thrown out of the trial. Galanter contended that the defense was never given the opportunity to have the sunglasses tested by their own experts. After the print was lifted by the police department's crime scene unit, they were returned to Pattinson.

But prosecutor Paul Mendelson successfully argued returning the glasses was in line with procedure and that the defense had not proven that the State acted in bad faith, the only grounds in which such evidence could be excluded.

From L.A. to Miami

Nicole Brown Simpson

The public image of the Heisman Trophy winner and football Hall-of-Famer changed on June 12, 1994 when his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her companion, Ronald Goldman, were found brutally murdered at her home. Two days later, the nation watched as police chased Simpson driving his white Ford Bronco.

The sensational nine-month criminal trial that followed ended in an acquittal, but a civil jury later found Simpson liable for $33.5 million in a wrongful death suit filed by the victims' families.

Christine Prody

Simpson moved to Miami in 1999 with his two youngest children, Justin and Sydney, but legal problems seem to have followed him.

Since then, police responded four times to reported domestic disputes with his girlfriend, Christine Prody. Charges, however, were never filed in any of those incidents.

The Stakes

Prosecutors initially gave Simpson hope that even if he was convicted of both counts — burglary of a car, a felony which carries up to a 15-year sentence, and battery, a misdemeanor punishable by up to an additional year in jail — that he would probably not serve any time.

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle announced early on in the case that rather than a prison sentence, prosecutors would seek "some sort of programming or sentence that would involve learning how to control oneself, whether it's on the road or elsewhere," according to published reports.

But just before jury selection, prosecutors changed their tune, announcing that they would indeed seek up to the maximum if Simpson's convicted.

Though the trial before Judge Dennis Murphy is expected to last only a couple of days, jury selection, which begins Oct. 9, could take up to a month because of Simpson's notoriety.