Fred Goldman to publish O.J.Simpson book – Blood Money?

Did O.J.Simpson really kill Nicole Brown (Simpson’s ex-wife) and her friend Ronald Goldman? In the criminal case against him, he was found not guilty by the jury in October 1993. However, a judgment of wrongful death was made against him in a civil suit and he was ordered to pay $38 million.

Unfortunately, the Simpson case, which lasted 8 months, left many people wondering and many theories have been presented. The purpose of this article is not to add any new suggestions to the case or to make any comments on the verdict, but to explore the moral issues of a person receiving money from someone they believe murdered their son.

Fred Goldman, who only 8 months earlier helped to quash the publication of O.J.Simpson’s book “If I Did It” and a planned TV interview, was handed the rights to the book by a Miami bankruptcy court (July), to help satisfy the $38 million owed from the civil suit. Many have been shocked by the news that Fred Goldman now intends to publish the book himself.

He gave the two “primary” reasons for stopping Simpson from publishing the book as “We wanted to stop him (Simpson) from capitalizing on it, for making money” and “We had no idea of the content of the book and imagined it to be the equivalent of, I guess, a manual on how to commit murder” CLICK HERE to view an interview with Goldman.

Since then, Goldman has said “It is not a manual on how to commit murder, but without question it’s an indictment of a murderer, using his own words we view it as a confession”

Assuming that Goldman can get the book published and find suppliers to sell it (some have refused), what will he do with the money he gets from this? Goldman replied “What I’ll do, what we will do with those monies, at least some portion of it, is that we will put it into a foundation that we’ve recently established, the Ron Goldman foundation for justice, to assist other victims of crime in this country. And will continue to use monies to pursue the killer”

Perhaps, if all the proceeds of any money from the book were to go into the foundation and went to help other victims, maybe others would not be so critical of Goldman’s motives. But as he said, only “some portion” will be used.

The Brown family are not involved in Goldman’s plans and Nicole Brown’s sister (Denise) has accused Goldman and his family of hypocrisy for publishing a book that he has described as “disgusting and despicable”. When asked if she is still in contact with the Goldman’s she replied “No, we don't keep in touch with the Goldman's. After the civil trial, Fred Goldman slapped a $22 million lawsuit on my family thinking we were hiding the Heisman trophy. No, we don't speak to them”

Whilst one can fully understand a father wanting to see his Son’s killer brought to justice, it is difficult to see how money can help with the grief. Certainly Simpson should not profit from such a book (whether he did it or not), but should anyone else?

Maybe the public will make their views felt by leaving this book on the shelves, if it ever appears on any, and donate the money they would have spent on one of the foundations set up for the victims? Fred Goldman has said that he won’t say Simpson’s name as it is like “dirt in my mouth”. To be honest, promoting this book is going to leave a bad taste in many peoples mouths.