O.J. Simpson's Blood Money

Everything about O.J. Simpson repulses and disgusts me. I can't stand to even glance at a picture of him and the sound of his voice has me running to turn off the television or radio as quickly as I can get to them. So I was both gratified and relieved when it turned out that his attempt to turn the blood of his victims into cold cash by "writing" a book called If I Did It had been crushed by a backlash of public outrage. But now the family of one of Simpson's victims is determined to see the book published and, despite my complete sympathy for what the family has suffered at the hands of Simpson, I believe that they are making a terrible mistake.

The saga of “If I Did It” has been nothing but bizarre. For one, it was ghostwritten by Pablo F. Fenjves, a neighbor of Nicole Brown Simpson who testified for the prosecution in Mr. Simpson’s 1995 trial about hearing the “plaintive wail” of Mrs. Simpson’s dog on the night of the killings.

And while the book was initially a money-making vehicle for Mr. Simpson, the driving force behind its revival is Mr. Goldman’s father, Fred, who vehemently opposed its publication when Mr. Simpson stood to profit. Last month, Mr. Goldman won the rights to the book in bankruptcy court, giving him the opportunity to take an asset from Mr. Simpson to help satisfy the $38 million (with accrued interest) wrongful-death civil judgment he won against Mr. Simpson but has failed to collect for the last 11 years, despite his relentless efforts.

The Goldman family is declining interview requests until publication of the book, expected by late September. But Peter T. Haven, a lawyer for Fred Goldman, said that his client was trying to both meet a need for some justice by collecting profits from Mr. Simpson’s work and to use Mr. Simpson’s own words as undisputed evidence of his culpability.

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Mr. Kampmann (publisher) said the Goldmans’ involvement with the book “changed the moral landscape” for him and, coupled with the already high public awareness, could make it a best seller. He said the new book would include an extra 14,000 words in a foreword by the Goldman family and commentary by other contributors, in addition to Mr. Simpson’s 60,000-word manuscript.

Despite the proclamation of such high-minded goals, the book, a hardcover that will retail for $24.95, remains an object of revulsion, one that mainstream publishers spurned. One of Nicole Brown’s sisters, Denise, took Mr. Kampmann to task on the “Today” show on Wednesday, and has started a petition on her Web site soliciting public opposition to this second publishing attempt.

In an interview, Ms. Brown said she was all for the Goldman family taking Mr. Simpson “for every penny he’s worth,” but said this was not the way to do it.

I can understand why Fred Goldman wants to hit O.J. Simpson in the wallet. After all, money, sex and golf are the only things that Simpson seems to care about, and without money he might have a problem with the other two loves of his life. But since Goldman had already successfully blocked the publication of this book, Simpson's finances will not be impacted by publishing it now and taking the proceeds away from him. The damage to Simpson had already been done.

As much as I have tried to put myself in Fred Goldman's shoes, I simply cannot understand how he can stand to put blood money earned on the horrible death suffered by his son into his own pockets. Revenge is one thing, and if I were him I would do everything in my legal power to hurt O.J. Simpson, but this is not really accomplishing that. This is one book that I will stay as far from as I possibly can. I refuse to play this game.