With O.J. Simpson giving his agreement from prison, a judge approved a plan Monday to donate the suit the former NFL star was wearing when he was acquitted of murder to the Smithsonian Institution.
The deal ends a 13-year legal battle between Simpson's former sports agent Mike Gilbert and Fred Goldman, the father of the man Simpson was accused of killing in 1994.
Both men claimed the right to the suit, shirt and tie Simpson was wearing Oct. 3, 1995, when he was acquitted of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman after a trial that riveted the nation.
Gilbert, who has had the clothes in his possession, came up with the idea of a donation.
"It's part of American history," Gilbert said outside court. "People should be able to see it and reflect on what went so wrong for someone who had everything."
Simpson, 62, who is serving a minimum nine-year prison sentence in Nevada on an unrelated case, told the judge and lawyers by phone that he approved of donating the suit "as long as no one made a profit from it," his attorney Ronald P. Slates said.
"I said to OJ, 'Whether you like it or not, you're an important part of American legal history, ' " Slates said.
Fred Goldman has been trying for years to seize Simpson's assets to satisfy a $33.5 million civil judgment for the wrongful death of his son and ex-wife. Simpson maintains he did not commit the murders and therefore owes Goldman nothing.
The Smithsonian has not yet been contacted to see if the museum wants the Simpson suit. If it is rejected, it will be offered to another museum or institution of higher learning, according to the agreement approved by Superior Court Judge Joseph Biderman.
The donation will be made in the name of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
More from The Washington Times HERE.
The deal ends a 13-year legal battle between Simpson's former sports agent Mike Gilbert and Fred Goldman, the father of the man Simpson was accused of killing in 1994.
Both men claimed the right to the suit, shirt and tie Simpson was wearing Oct. 3, 1995, when he was acquitted of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman after a trial that riveted the nation.
Gilbert, who has had the clothes in his possession, came up with the idea of a donation.
"It's part of American history," Gilbert said outside court. "People should be able to see it and reflect on what went so wrong for someone who had everything."
Simpson, 62, who is serving a minimum nine-year prison sentence in Nevada on an unrelated case, told the judge and lawyers by phone that he approved of donating the suit "as long as no one made a profit from it," his attorney Ronald P. Slates said.
"I said to OJ, 'Whether you like it or not, you're an important part of American legal history, ' " Slates said.
Fred Goldman has been trying for years to seize Simpson's assets to satisfy a $33.5 million civil judgment for the wrongful death of his son and ex-wife. Simpson maintains he did not commit the murders and therefore owes Goldman nothing.
The Smithsonian has not yet been contacted to see if the museum wants the Simpson suit. If it is rejected, it will be offered to another museum or institution of higher learning, according to the agreement approved by Superior Court Judge Joseph Biderman.
The donation will be made in the name of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
More from The Washington Times HERE.
6 comments:
If they take it, I'll never go there or contribute again!
Is this a sick joke?
I cannot believe people are still wasting their time on him.
why would anyone want to see this suit? he killed the mother of his children and feels no remorse.
Picture this in a hundred years:
OJ's suit on a headless mannikin behind a glass front. What would the exhibit marker read? "The suit that Simpson wore the day that justice failed"? "A reminder that racism existed in the United States, and that it outweighed even the laws of the land."?
I am not sure how this is news...or why anyone care about the suit.
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