LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2008
O.J. Confessed Murder, Former Friend Says
A New Book, "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder," Details Confession
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Mike Gilbert says he helped O.J. Simpson, seen here at his 1994 murder trial, get away with murder, by giving him the idea to make his hands bloated so they wouldn't fit into the infamous blood-stained gloves. (AP Photo)
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Play CBS Video Video O.J. Insider Tells All Thomas Riccio led O.J. Simpson to a hotel with his missing memorabilia, recorded the violent confrontation, testified for the prosecution, and now has a tell-all book. He speaks with Maggie Rodriguez.
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Video O.J.'s Bail Doubled By Judge O.J. Simpson's bail has been doubled by a Las Vegas judge after he was imprisoned for allegedly violating his parole by trying to relate a message to a former co-defendant. Jennifer Miller reports.
Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they would not fit the notorious bloody gloves.
Gilbert's book, "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse" (Regnery Publishing, 232 pages, $27.95), is due in stores Monday. It was released to The Associated Press in advance.
He said Simpson had smoked pot, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial what happened the night of June 12, 1994. Simpson said he went to his ex-wife's condominium, but did not bring a knife with him. Simpson told him Nicole Brown Simpson had one in her hand when she opened the door.
In a soft mumble, Simpson told him: "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand ... she'd still be alive."
"Nothing more needed to be said," Gilbert writes. "O.J. had confessed to me. There's no doubt in my mind."
Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death at the entrance to her condominium. The knife was never found.
Simpson's current lawyer Yale Galanter said none of Gilbert's claims are true and that Gilbert is "a delusional drug addict who needs money. He has fallen on very hard times. He is in trouble with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service)."
"I've talked to O.J. about it," said Galanter, who refused to allow Simpson to comment directly because of his upcoming robbery trial in Las Vegas. "This stuff not only didn't occur but it's not factually supported by the evidence."
The name calling and accusations on both sides showed that deep wounds persist.
In a phone interview, Gilbert called Galanter "an ambulance chaser and an enabler and denier for O.J. I know. I used to do the same thing. I understand the game."
He acknowledged he has problems with the Internal Revenue Service which he says were caused by Simpson but said, "I could take a drug test and pass it. I highly doubt that O.J. could."
Gilbert is the second sports memorabilia dealer to write a Simpson book this year. Thomas Riccio, who arranged a Las Vegas memorabilia sale that led to Simpson's armed robbery arrest, penned "Busted" last month.
Simpson himself participated in the controversial book, "If I Did It," which he claimed was not a confession. It was withdrawn by the publisher and eventually released last year by the Goldman family to help satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment in civil lawsuit after Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in a criminal trial.
Gilbert said he continued to represent Simpson for another decade after the alleged confession, hawking items with his autograph, hiding the profits and helping Simpson shield his possessions so they could not be seized by the Goldman family.
Gilbert also claims that he counseled the jailed Simpson during his murder trial to stop taking his arthritis medicine so his hands would swell up and not fit the bloody gloves in court. He offers no proof Simpson followed his advice or that he was taking any medicine, but the drama that played out in court when the gloves did not fit was central to Simpson's defense.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 67 CommentsYour right, comparing OJ with obama is a real insult and whoever does this owes OJ an apology.
I disagree with your statement. If i were selected for jury duty i would look at the facts presnted, put my personal opinion aside and make my decision on guil or innocense regardless of wha race was involved. Whe you are sowrn in as a juror this is what you swear to do.
Geez. For the last time, it''s not like I WANT this to happen. I''m simply SAYING that its going to happen. I''m pro-Obama myself, but if he is the Dem candidate, expect so-called ''legitimate'' prosecutions against black males to come to the forefront, especially if they involve white victims. As I said before, forewarned is forearmed. I didn''t make the world. I just see it as it is, and relate what I see. The Michael Jackson trial was a kangaroo trial, a show trial. It was not about justice, it was about politics. How else do you slap a man with 10 indictments, NONE of which is later upheld by the jury? You do it because the publicity surrounding the case is more important than the justice of the case itself. Personally, I think OJ was guilty and should be fried. But, it was not lost on the powers that be that the OJ trial was a turning point in ''white'' perseptions of black America. The M. Jackson trial was totally designed to play into that hatred, and it worked.
Expect more of the same this summer and fall.
Posted by ubrew12 at 08:39 PM
My apologies to Misspp. I spoke to soon. Yes, as evidenced above and below, the racists couldn''t resist even attacking Obama at the same time. Again, if you see this, sorry.
Posted by Misspp at 10:34 PM
I think OJ is driving you crazy. Personally, I don''t care. I wish they wouldn''t do articles about him, because he is now nobody. And yes, I once believed him innocent, but the glove incident was so fake, I was beside myself with how easy he got away with it.
You are right in that many times if the accused is black, the racists come out of the woodwork. But I haven''t seen that yet (I haven''t read back on the posts either, so I don''t know if the typical racists have shown up or not).
What a lovely person.
This Glibert guy should be prosecuted for obstruction, among other things. What a joke these people around this simple jack*ss called OJ; racist, self-hating, clown. He''s a coward''s coward who used his race to escape conviction and the only black people he''s seen since were those two idiots who helped him in Vegas last year and the caddies at those Golf Clubs where he''s supposedly been looking for the Nicole''s and Ron''s killers.
F*CK OJ SIMPSON!!!!!
I never said black men were unreliable. I said that, if Obama is the nominee, an effort will be made to PAINT black men as unreliable. It will be an EMOTIONAL effort (i.e. an effort that pulls peoples emotions rather than their logic). It will (if ''04 and the Jackson trial are any guide) consist of several high-profile (read: lots of TV coverage) prosecutions of black men in various crimes against (preferably) white people.
Prosecute Kobe Bryant for ''raping'' a white woman: that would be great for the news media.
I think Obamas a great candidate and plan to vote for him. I just know that the forces arrayed against him are very rich and very powerful, and very knowledgeable about which emotional ''strings'' to pull in the American public. If the Michael Jackson trial is any guide, expect several prominant black trials to take place between now and November. How they turn out is not the point. The POINT is the publicity surrounding them, and its effect on the American voter.
And common sense should tell you that if this guy really had the goods on OJ, he would have gotten rich off of it too before now. But you believe it because it fits your racist views. You even bring the other black folks you hate the nost (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Barack Obama) into it. How stupid!
How many of you bigots care this nuch about the same situation when it is:
1. white man and white wife?
2. black man and black wife?
3. White man and black wife?
Answer: You don''t care!
Prediction: OJ will be driving you folks crazy until you die. GET A LIFE!!!
The right wing is counting on peoples ignorance (when have they not?). Even ignorant people get to vote. As I said, expect many more such spurious ''prosecutions'' of black male figures in the coming months if Obama is the Dem candidate. I''m not saying I like it, I''m saying its what''s going to happen, and forewarned is forearmed.
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