Laguna Lawyer Sues Clark Over Photos in Book

A Laguna Beach attorney sued O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark on Wednesday, claiming she violated a court order by including crime scene photos in her book “Without a Doubt.”

Merritt Lori McKeon, who filed the complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court herself, said it was “atrocious that when you’re dead and murdered and lying in a pool of your own blood, and police take photos of you to use in a murder investigation . . . the one person who has access to those photos could include them in a book.”

She said Marcia Clark had successfully argued in June 1995, with O.J. Simpson’s lawyers concurring, that the photos should not be published anywhere, and a judge issued an order to that effect. McKeon said as far as she could determine, that order had never been lifted. Now, she said, Clark is receiving $4.2 million for a book that uses crime scene photos of Nicole Brown Simpson, and an autopsy photo of Ron Goldman’s hand.

“Why should the family of any murder victim ever trust a prosecutor again?” McKeon said.

McKeon said she had co-authored a book on domestic abuse with Nicole Brown Simpson’s father, Lou Brown, and had appeared on talk shows with him. But she said she did not seek publicity for this suit and had tried unsuccessfully to have it sealed by a judge.

McKeon said she had just passed the California bar exam in May, and that this was her first case. She said “for all I know, Clark had the order rescinded, or got permission to use the photos. Then who’s the jerk? Me. But at least people will know it’s not safe to die in L.A.”

The suit also names Penguin Books. A spokesman for the publisher declined to comment.

Clark’s agent and lawyer could not be reached for comment.