Before OJ Simpson parole hearing, Ron Goldman's family says they may never see justice

"Ron never gets to spend his life doing what he wanted," Fred Goldman said.

ByABC News
July 20, 2017, 10:06 AM

— -- Hours before O.J. Simpson is to go before a Nevada parole board, Fred and Kim Goldman, the father and sister of Ron Goldman, spoke out and said they may never see justice for the killing of their family member.

"Ron never gets to spend his life doing what he wanted to do," a tearful Fred Goldman told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos today on "Good Morning America." "We'll never get to share his life, and the killer will walk free and get to do whatever he wants."

Stephanopoulos asked the Goldmans if they think they may ever see justice.

We'll "probably never see that ... never get the justice," Fred Goldman said.

Fred and Kim Goldman were present as Simpson stood trial for the 1994 killing of Ron Goldman and the football star's wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

Simpson was acquitted of charges in both killings but in an unrelated case he is serving a 33-year sentence at Lovelock Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nevada in connection with a kidnapping and armed robbery.

Simpson has so far served nine years and will have a parole hearing today in which case, the former Heisman trophy winner could walk free.

PHOTO: O.J. Simpson returns to the witness stand to testify after a break during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, May 15, 2013.
O.J. Simpson returns to the witness stand to testify after a break during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, May 15, 2013.

Fred Goldman said that he will be upset if Simpson is paroled today.

"What's troubling to me is not only him, but the whole system gives second chances to violent felons or, for that matter, anyone in jail," he added. "Ron doesn't get a second chance."

Kim Goldman agreed.

"We lived our life with [Simpson] walking the streets and sharing the same roads that we did," she said. "With him being locked up in Lovelock, it's been a chance for us to kind of reclaim some control over our life and have some glimpse of sanity."

She added, "I'm preparing myself for that to be changing come October."

Craig Arnett, a former guard at Lovelock Correctional, described Simpson as a model prisoner.

"He's still an inmate, but he definitely wasn't a problem child like some of the other ones were," Arnett told ABC News Wednesday. "I think he has a strong chance of getting out. I think he hasn't really been a problem in prison."

One reason Simpson could get paroled is that he was never convicted of the double killings 22 years ago.

Fred Goldman said the parole board should take into account that Simpson was found liable for the killings in the 1997 civil trial.

"I think his whole history of violence, ignoring the law, no respect for the law, no remorse for virtually anything he's ever done is an indication of who he is as a person," Fred Goldman said. "I don’t think there's any reason to think that he's going to be a decent human being in society. I think he's proved otherwise."

Simpson receives an NFL pension of $25,000 a month. That money is protected by federal law, including against the $33.5-million-dollar judgment awarded to Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's families in the civil suit against Simpson in 1997.

For over 20 years, Kim Goldman has continued to pursue the case of her brother's killing.

"I hope that no one ever has to walk in our shoes, but we know that millions of people on a daily basis, on a yearly basis, are impacted by trauma and crime," she said. "The civil system awarded us a judgment, and it is our job to follow the system, to follow the law and to pursue that judgment. That's his punishment. Anybody else would want to do that or would have to do that. I don't see why we should be different. If we don't pursue it, then we've given him another free pass, and I don't believe that's truth and I don't think that's necessary."

Apart from Simpson's NFL pensions, he could earn money elsewhere, and the Goldmans will continue to pursue any earnings of his, they said.

"I think we'll do the same thing we did for the previous 20-plus years and we'll go after everything that's around there," Fred Goldman said. "As Kim just said, that's a form of punishment."

The Goldmans talked about what they would say, if they had the chance, to the parole board that Simpson will face today.

"Well, I understand that our two cases are not linked -- the murder case and what he did in Las Vegas," Kim Goldman said. "I think it's interesting to point out that he stormed a hotel room with goons and guns to steal property. Not a lot of people would do that, but that was where we went. His propensity is to be violent."

"Our society afforded his freedom back in '95 when they acquitted him," she added. Now, she said, she wants the parole board to remember that "his go-to is violence and to not be respectful of the law that gave him his freedom."

If Simpson is granted parole, his earliest possible release date is Oct. 1.

PHOTO: Fred Goldman, right, and his daughter Kim, leave Los Angeles County Superior Court along with their attorney Daniel Petrocelli following pre-trial hearings in the wrongful-death case against O.J. Simpson, Sept. 17, 1996, in Santa Monica, Calif.
Fred Goldman, right, and his daughter Kim, leave Los Angeles County Superior Court along with their attorney Daniel Petrocelli following pre-trial hearings in the wrongful-death case against O.J. Simpson, Sept. 17, 1996, in Santa Monica, Calif.

Denial could mean at least another three years behind bars.

ABC will have live coverage of Simpson's parole hearing today at 1 p.m. Eastern.

ABC News' Kaitlyn Folmer, Roger Lee, Jenna Harrison and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.

Related Topics