O.J. Guilty Verdict: 13 Years in the Making?
Many from Simpson murder trial say ex-football star finally got his due.
Oct. 6, 2008— -- The family of Ron Goldman, who was murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994, say they were elated to finally see O.J. Simpson in handcuffs.
"It's the best picture I've ever seen," said Kim Goldman, Ron's sister, today on "Good Morning America."Seeing the killer walk the streets is like pouring salt in an open wound and now the salt is gone."
The Goldmans and other players in the so-called Trial of the Century who were angered when O.J. Simpson walked on murder charges 13 years ago called his robbery and kidnapping convictions a matter of justice finally catching up to the fallen football star.
"We said we would try to find justice and I think we got it, I think we got it," an emotional Fred Goldman, Ron's father, said on "GMA."
"In this case, justice delayed was not justice denied," said attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented the family of Simpson's slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
"Mr. Simpson has appeared to me to think that he was above the law." she said. "Now he may spend the rest of his life in prison understanding that the law -- and not O.J. Simpson -- will have the last word."
Brian "Kato" Kaelin, the actor and house guest who testified at Simpson's murder trial, said Simpson was foolish not to "disappear from sight" after beating the murder rap.
"This verdict came down exactly 13 years after the verdict in his murder trial," Kaelin said. "If anybody believes in the number 13 and in karma, Simpson got his 13 years later."
The one-time gridiron great was convicted Friday night in Las Vegas of kidnapping and 11 other charges in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a plot to seize mementos that Simpson believed had been stolen from him.
The decision was rendered 13 years to the day after a Los Angeles jury acquitted Simpson of the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in 1994. Simpson later was found civilly liable for the deaths and ordered to pay the families of the victims $33.5 million, a figure that has since ballooned because of interest.
Simpson's Las Vegas defense tried to tell the jury that the robbery and murder cases had nothing to do with each other, but one of his attorneys said he believes the message did not get through.
"This was just payback," Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said of the verdict, according to The Associated Press. "They were on an agenda."
He said he would appeal.
One juror told The Los Angeles Times that Simpson's 1995 acquittal played no role in the panel's deliberations.
