Goldmans put stock in assertion of O.J. confession

5/13/2008 7:46 PM

By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -Ron Goldman's sister says she's inclined to believe a memorabilia dealer who says O.J. Simpson confessed to him that he killed his ex-wife and Goldman.

But Kim Goldman says she's not ready to accept Mike Gilbert's apology for helping shield the former football star's assets when her family tried to collect on a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment Simpson was ordered to pay.

She questions why, if Gilbert's apology was sincere, he didn't come to the family with information on Simpson's assets before publishing the book so that they might lay claim to them.

``When push came to shove, when we asked him to help us, he didn't,'' she said.

Gilbert, the memorabilia dealer who once tried to peddle the suit Simpson was wearing on the day he was acquitted of murder, says in a just-published book that the former football player was high on marijuana when he confessed to him that he stabbed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson to death on June 12, 1994.

Gilbert, who says Simpson confessed shortly after jurors in his criminal trial acquitted him, goes on to apologize to the Goldmans for helping Simpson hide his fortune after families of both victims won the wrongful death lawsuit.

``I think it's reasonable to assume that the confession in this is not a shameless plug for the book but that it's the killer's words,'' Kim Goldman told The Associated Press on Tuesday. ``Those are things we need to keep reminding ourselves about. We are dealing with evil, and this is just another example.''

That said, she quickly added, ``I don't want anybody to misconstrue that he's doing a wealth of good here, 14 years later, trying to come clean. It's a little late.''

Gilbert's book, ``How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse,'' was published Monday. Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter has said the writer's claims are untrue.

Asked whether she would accept his apology, Goldman said, ``I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I haven't even thought about it.''

She said the book isn't the first time Gilbert has tried to apologize to her and her father, Fred Goldman. He also did so last year, Goldman said, when he contacted the family soon after Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas on armed robbery and kidnapping charges related to a bumbling effort to recover sports memorabilia Simpson says was stolen from him. He faces trial Sept. 8.

At the time, Gilbert also told the family he was planning on selling Simpson's acquittal suit and wanted the Goldmans' blessings. Kim Goldman said her family told him to do whatever he wanted with it. She said she also made it clear she had no interest in hearing his apology.

``My feeling at the time was, I'm not anybody's confessional and I don't want to be in that position,'' she said.