While much of the country has been fixed on bioterrorism and the war in Afghanistan, a celebrity trial ended here today without the gavel-to-gavel coverage and daily headlines that were present the last time the defendant stood accused.

The accused, O. J. Simpson, was acquitted today on charges of battery and burglarizing a car in a road-rage case. Unlike his last appearance as a defendant, in a civil trial that followed a murder trial in the deaths of his former wife and a friend of hers, this trial was almost a footnote in the national press.

The latest case involved a Dec. 5 incident in which Mr. Simpson was accused of yanking a driver's glasses off his face after running a red light and then reaching into the man's car in an argument that followed. The driver, Jeffrey Pattinson, received a small scratch on his face.

Mr. Simpson, 54, testified in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that he never reached into Mr. Pattinson's car and that Mr. Pattinson angrily confronted him after the traffic incident.