"Did somebody from space land in the backyard and do this?" ..... sister Barb Kilpatrick

"Sigh, deja vu all over again!"

Good Day Readers:

While observing the Mark Stobbe trial we couldn't help but think of O J Simpson. Upon hearing the verdict we wondered if the jury had been watching the same proceeding. However, there is one important difference.

After being acquitted Mr. Simpson vowed he'd conduct an all out search for the real killer, problem is, it will have to wait. You see, in September 2007 a group of men lead by him entered a room at a Las Vegas hotel-casino (The Palace Station) to take sports memorabilia at gunpoint the former NFL star claimed belonged to him. For his efforts O J was rewarded with a 33-year prison sentence (Lovelock Correctional Centre, Lovelock Nevada) from where he will be eligible for parole in 9-years (2017) at which time he will no doubt vigorously continue his relentless pursuit for his wife's killer.

Mr. Stobbe, on the other hand, when questioned recently by reporters stated he will not seek his wife's real murderer instead following the advice of presiding Justice Chris Martin to leave that to the police.

But there's another aspect of this case that parallels O J's. Recall after he was acquitted the Goldman family filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of their deceased son Ronald and Nicole Brown in civil court where the standards of proof are lower:

On February 5, 1997 a civil jury in Santa Monica, California unanimously found Simpson liable for the wrongful death of and battery against Goldman.Daniel Petrocelli represented plaintiff Fred Goldman, Ronald Goldman's father. Simpson was ordered to pay $33,500,000 in damages. However, California law protects pensions from being used to satisfy judgments, so Simpson was able to continue much of his lifestyle based on his NFL pension (worth an estimated 400 thousand dollars annually). In February 1999, an auction of Simpson's Heisman Trophy and other belongings netted almost $500,000. The money went to the Goldman family.

This raises an interesting possibility. If there is no appeal or one's unsuccessful could the Rowbotham family, should it so choose, launch a wrongful death suit pursuant to existing Canadian personal injury laws? Next time we're at the Courthouse (soon) we'll run that by a couple civil litigators for an informal strictly OTR (Off The Record) opinion and let you know.


Establishing a Charitable Foundation? 

We noted with interest in a recent Winnipeg Sun report, "To honour her memory, the family is considering whether to make a donation to a women's shelter in Bev's name."

Winnipeg's Osborne House a home for battered women is chronically short of money frequently requiring it to go public to plead for additional financial support. One would hope in time the Rowbotham family would give consideration to establishing a tax exempt charitable foundation in Beverly Rowbotham's name to involve the community in fundraising activities. The possibilities are endless everything from an annual volunteer fundraising dinner, high school  and university students taking on projects as part of their womens' study courses, sponsoring guest speaker lectures on the subject of battered women ..... the possibilities are virtually endless limited only by one's imagination and energy.

In this way the donation would be in perpetuity. Perhaps Mr. Stobbe would like to start it off with an inaugural contribution in his name. For our part we'd be prepared to offer the services of CyberSmokeBlog at no cost to advertise and promote any fundraising activities associated with a foundation.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk