O.J. victim denies ever having Hall of Fame ring

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- Fred Goldman failed to grab O.J. Simpson's Hall of Fame ring in a California courtroom Friday but he hit the jackpot in Las Vegas, where a judge ordered that most of the items Simpson robbed from a pair of sports memorabilia dealers last year be returned to California.

The judge in Las Vegas ordered the items commemorating Simpson's glory days as a college and pro football player be sold to satisfy part of a $33.5 million civil wrongful-death judgment awarded to the families of Goldman's son, Ronald, and Nicole Brown Simpson after the disgraced football star was acquitted of their 1994 murders.

"The irony is that this is precisely what Mr. Simpson sought to avoid, having the stuff end up in the hands of Fred Goldman," Goldman's lawyer, David Cook, said after leaving a Santa Monica courtroom where he had hoped to collect Simpson's ring.

The man Cook believes has the ring, Alfred Beardsley, testified that he had no idea where it is.

Beardsley, one of the memorabilia dealers Simpson was convicted of robbing last year in Las Vegas, told a Santa Monica court that he heard the former football player lost the ring on a golf course years ago. He also denied ever telling a district attorney investigator in Las Vegas that Simpson had given it to him.

"It is absolutely, 100 percent not true," Beardsley testified.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas, Judge Jackie Glass ruled that dozens of items seized after Simpson's arrest on robbery and kidnapping charges be returned to California to be sold by the Los Angeles County sheriff and the money handed over to families of the 1994 slaying victims.

Glass also ordered that Simpson, Clarence "C.J." Stewart and four others who took part in the 2007 robbery pay a combined $3,560 in restitution to collectibles dealer Bruce Fromong, another victim in the robbery.

Simpson and Stewart were convicted in October of kidnapping, armed robbery, conspiracy and other charges for the bungled heist aimed at retrieving Simpson's memorabilia. The other four men who took part struck plea deals and testified against Simpson and Stewart.

Simpson, 61, was sentenced earlier this month to prison. He was moved Friday to the Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada to serve his term of nine to 33 years, said state prisons spokeswoman Suzanne Pardee.

Cook, Goldman's attorney, said his client's efforts to force Simpson to pay as much of the $33.5 million judgment "is going to continue eternally."

"A lot of people have asked, 'When are you going to give up,"' Cook told The Associated Press outside the Santa Monica courtroom. "The answer to that is that giving up is giving O.J. a free pass on these double murders."

Cook said he believes the items retrieved in Las Vegas could fetch as much as $50,000. He valued the ring he was still trying to locate at $200,000.

Beardsley said in a court hearing Friday that he never had the ring. Cook said outside court that he didn't believe Beardsley's testimony.

Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg, who last week had ordered Beardsley to turn over the ring, ruled that he must give it up if it ever does come into his possession.

Beardsley said he planned to sue Goldman for having him hauled into court over the issue.

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