O.J. Simpson's ex-agent takes the stand but is barred from saying much
Prosecutors had wanted Mike Gilbert to talk about his bitter falling-out with Simpson and their alleged dispute over memorabilia. But the judge bars them from asking much about those topics.
LAS VEGAS -- A sports agent whose bitter falling-out with O.J. Simpson has been an intriguing subplot in the former NFL player's armed-robbery trial took the stand today, but was barred from telling jurors about the feud or much of anything else.
Judge Jackie Glass severely limited Mike Gilbert's testimony, saying the information prosecutors planned to elicit -- that Simpson hid memorabilia to avoid paying a civil judgment -- might bias the jury by raising the specter of his past legal woes.
Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, but later found liable for the deaths in civil court and ordered to pay $33.5 million. Prosecutors contend the items Simpson is accused of stealing from two memorabilia dealers last year in a casino hotel room here were among the valuables he concealed from the court.
"We're not talking about the California case," the judge warned lawyers.
In the end, Gilbert occupied the witness chair for just 20 minutes and spent much of that time gazing around the courtroom as attorneys argued over his testimony at the judge's bench. He and Simpson did not appear to make eye contact.
Once one of Simpson's closest friends, Gilbert parted ways with the Hall of Famer a decade ago in a dispute over money. His name has come up repeatedly in Simpson's trial, most often in a negative light. In audiotapes played for jurors, the gridiron hero says Gilbert pocketed Simpson family heirlooms even as he tried to talk his friend into tawdry moneymaking schemes, including filming a sex tape and staging drug use for the tabloids.
In May, Gilbert published a book titled "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder" in which he asserted Simpson confessed in a drug stupor to killing Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Attorneys for Simpson did not want Gilbert to testify at all, arguing he would prejudice the jury.
"He is telling everybody who will listen how Mr. Simpson is a murderer," said attorney Yale Galanter outside the presence of jurors.
Prosecutors said they needed Gilbert's account to explain why Simpson would have been angry enough to bring weapons to the meeting at the Palace Hotel & Casino. According to prosecutors, Gilbert infuriated Simpson by refusing to return some of the memorabilia he hid from the civil court. Simpson went to the hotel room expecting to find Gilbert, but instead encountered two other dealers, according to trial testimony.
