Judge orders MLK Bible, Nobel Peace Prize put in safe deposit box

A judge in Atlanta Wednesday ordered Martin Luther King Jr.'s Bible and Nobel Peace Prize locked up while his family's feud is resolved in court. Fulton County Judge Robert C.I. McBurney decided the step was prudent after listening to attorneys for the late civil rights leader's daughter and sons for 2 1/2 hours, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Under the judge's order, Bernice King is to turn over her father's items to his estate for safekeeping until a court rules whether or not her brothers, Dexter and Martin, can sell them. "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." The two King brothers envision selling the Bible and Nobel Peace Prize for millions of dollars. Their sister doesn't want them sold. The three siblings represent the King Estate but the brothers have out-voted her on the matter and have gone to court to get her to relinquish control of the historic items. They also have sued to oust her as chief executive officer of the King Center.