Friend says O.J. wronged
Contending O.J. Simpson was dealt an injustice, the brother of the football star's former girlfriend is soliciting money to appeal Simpson's conviction and prison sentence on kidnapping and armed robbery charges.
Barrett Prody, 35, has created a nonprofit corporation and a Web site, the Society Against Legal Injustice Inc., to raise money for Simpson.
"I hope to help out someone who has gotten to be a good friend," Prody said by telephone from his home in Fargo, N.D. "I want to leverage his name in an effort to right an injustice out there in Las Vegas."
But Simpson lawyers Yale Galanter in Miami and Gabriel Grasso said they do not think the fund is needed. Galanter said that Simpson's trial fees and costs were fully paid and that his appellate fees and costs were "basically paid."
"It seems that Barrett has the best of intentions," Galanter said. "But whatever he's doing is on a separate track with what we're doing."
The lawyers said they expect to file an appeal in the next six weeks with the Nevada Supreme Court over Simpson's conviction for the armed robbery and kidnapping of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room. Simpson is serving his sentence at Lovelock State Prison.
Simpson's daughter, Arnelle Simpson, said she supports Prody's effort.
"It's legit," Arnelle Simpson said. "It was established and created for my dad. Of course I approve of it and will support it."
Prody's younger sister, Christine Prody, was Simpson's girlfriend for more than a decade after the NFL Hall of Fame member was acquitted in the 1994 slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles.
