Bernice King’s efforts to keep her father’s Nobel Peace Prize and Bible being sold took a hit Wednesday. A Fulton County Superior Court judge ordered her to surrender the items to the King Estate until the dispute between her and her brothers is settled.
At the end of the two and a half hour hearing, Judge Robert C. I. McBurney also seemed to hint that the only surviving daughter of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. might be fighting a losing battle.
“There is a likelihood – I won’t say substantial — that the estate will prevail … and will show that the Bible and Peace Prize are property of the estate,” McBurney said.
Lawyers representing Dexter King and Martin Luther King III argued before McBurney that Bernice King should fully surrender the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and the Bible, which President Obama used during his second inauguration, so a sale could proceed.
All three siblings are directors of the King Estate; the brothers voted 2-1 against their sister to sell the items.
McBurney ordered Bernice King to turn over the items to the estate to be stored in safe deposit box at a bank of the estate’s choosing – with the court controlling the keys.
“I think it is prudent that the two items be stored together in a safe deposit box,” McBurney said. “The court will maintain all keys to the safe deposit box and the whereabouts will be known to the two parties.”
“I am happy about the ruling,” said attorney William B. Hill, who is representing the King Estate. He said he would have preferred for the estate to get unfettered control, but called McBurney’s solution “a thoughtful response.”
Eric Barnum, an attorney for Bernice King, said he was disappointed, but that the central issue remains ahead.
Although none of the siblings was in court, if the hearing was a precursor, the dispute could get ugly.
On several occasions Hill accused Bernice King of negligence in how she handled other family items, such as love letters that once belonged to her mother. He also noted that she has been party to the sale of other King-related items, including the $32 million sale of her father’s papers.
“Now, … suddenly Bernice King wants to break all of her promises to her living brothers, to her dead mother and to her dead sister, and disregard all of her contractual obligations,” Hill said. “This is not her property. It is the estate’s property.”
In turn, Barnum accused the brothers of greed. “This is a money grab, plain and simple,” he said. “Dexter King and Martin III want to sell these items for money.”
How much money and to whom is still a mystery.
Barnum said the brothers have not told Bernice King who would buy the items or for how much. But Hill said Bernice King’s actions are hampering a potential sale.
Massachusetts lawyer Patricia Davidson, who is not involved in the case but has read the complaint, said that in her opinion the law favors the brothers.
“It seems to me that the brothers probably have the side that I would like to have,” she said. “If a vote has been taken among the three siblings and they are the sole directors, then they (the brothers) have a sound argument. Democracy still rules.”
Although the items clearly have historical value “you can’t take a Bible and cut in three and you each get a third, and you can’t do that with the medal. The only way to share the value of the physical items – good or bad – is to sell them.”
A court date has not been set for arguments on the merits of the case. But public interest is high, as shown Wednesday by the presence of several reporters and the appearance of key civil rights figures in court, including C.T. Vivian and Willie Bolden. They have sided with Bernice King.
“It is not lost on anyone,” Barnum told McBurney at the beginning of the hearing, “that the greater community is watching.”
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