: LAS VEGAS - AP - One of the new charges against O.J. Simpson could carry a possible life sentence, but the former NFL star's immediate concern is getting out of jail while he awaits trial.
Simpson's lawyer said he will make a plea for Simpson's release Wednesday, a day after prosecutors charged him with 11 criminal offenses, including first-degree kidnapping, which carries the possible life sentence. The charges are tied to a confrontation in a Las Vegas hotel room last week in which Simpson said he tried to reclaim sports memorabilia.
He has been held since Sunday in protective custody in a single 7-foot by 14-foot jail cell in a unit with 36 other inmates, separated from more than 3,000 other detainees in the downtown Las Vegas jail, police said.
Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, said he planned to ask for Simpson's release on his own recognizance.
"We intend to vigorously represent Mr. Simpson on all charges. We believe ultimately he will be found not guilty," Galanter said. He refused to comment further on the charges announced Tuesday.
Nevada law gives Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman wide discretion setting bail and conditions for release, said Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo, a supervisory judge who is not involved in the Simpson case.
"Under Nevada Revised Statutes, you're entitled to bail unless it's a capital case," Abbatangelo said.
Simpson, 60, was acquitted in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
The Heisman Trophy winner was arrested after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his room at the Palace Station casino and took several items Simpson claimed belonged to him.
Authorities allege that Simpson and other men went to the hotel room under the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors of Simpson memorabilia, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.
According to police reports, Simpson and the other men entered the room and at gunpoint ordered the collectors to hand over several items. Beardsley told police that one of the men with Simpson brandished a semiautomatic pistol, frisked him and impersonated a police officer.
"I'm a cop and you're lucky this ain't LA or you'd be dead," the man said, according to the report. The man who arranged the meeting of the former athlete and the collectors, Tom Riccio, also told police a Simpson associate was "acting like a cop," the report said.
As his associates tried to seize cell phones, Simpson yelled and cursed the collectors, who Simpson has said were trying to sell items that had been stolen from him.
The memorabilia taken from the room included football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques, together valued at as much as $100,000.
Fromong, a crucial witness, was in critical condition Tuesday after suffering a heart attack the day before, according to a spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Two other defendants named in the complaint, Walter Alexander, 46, and Clarence Stewart, 53, have been arrested and released. A fourth suspect, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, surrendered to police Tuesday. Police describe him as "a key player" in the suspected theft.
Simpson and the other three men are charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping; two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon; burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon; two counts of assault with a deadly weapon; conspiracy to commit kidnapping; conspiracy to commit robbery; and a misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime. Simpson also faces one charge of coercion with use of a deadly weapon, a felony.
It wasn't immediately clear who McClinton's lawyer was Tuesday.
Police were seeking two other suspects, whom they had not identified.
Stewart, of Las Vegas, turned in some of the missing goods Monday before he was released on $78,000 bail.
Alexander was arrested and released Saturday without bail after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.
Simpson lives near Miami. He has been a tabloid staple since his ex-wife and Goldman were killed. Although he was acquitted of murder charges, a jury later held Simpson liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Jailers have called Simpson cooperative. He had several visits from lawyers and a short visit from a jail chaplain, who gave him reading glasses, a Bible, and a devotional book, "The Purpose Driven Life," police said.
@CRAFY lMAO!! YOU ARE SOOOO RIGHT! I'M SORRY O.J. FOR MTY CONMMENT I MADE EARLY, IT WAS EARLY AND I WAS'NT FULLY AWAKEN! BUT WE KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO BEAT THIS ONE TOO! THAT WAS'NT YOUR VOICE JUST LIKE THE GLOVE! "IF IT DON'T FIT YOU MUST ACQUIT" NOW HIS LAWYER WILL HAVE TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING TO SAY THAT THIS WAS NOT HIS VOICE! IT'S NOT HIS VOICE, SO MAKE A CHOICE, THAT'S WHHAT HE TOLD THAT MAN HE GOT BEAT UP!LMAO!
OJ IS GOING TO GET OFF HE DIDNT DO ANYTHING HE DIDNT HAVE A GUN HE DIDNT STEAL ANYTHING HE WAS JUST WANTING TO KNOW WHY HIS THINGS WERE BEING SOLD THAT SOMEONE STOLE FROM HIM AND I DONT BLAME HIM HOW CAN YOU STEAL SOMETHING THAT RIGHTFULLY BELONG TO YOU ..HE NEEDS TO SUE THESE MUTHA FUCCAS ..NOT ONLY THAT THEY TWO GUYS WHO WERE SELLING HIS STUFF ONE HAD A HEART ATTACK AND SAID HE DIDNT WANT TO PRESS CHARGES I WONDER WHY ? COULD IT BE THAT HE WAS SELLING STOLEN GOODS I THINK SO DONT BE SO QUICK TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS UNTIL YOU HAVE A LL THE FACTS ...THEY JUST MADE O.J. RICH ...GET A GREAT LAWYER O.J GET YA PAPER THATS THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THESE WHITE FOLKS FROM MESSING WITH YOU HIT THEM IN THE WALLET THEY UNDERSTAND THAT TALK!!1
***Is is not apparent he was setup:
-How could someone just "happen" to have a tape recorder handy when that incident happend?
-How is it every with OJ is more than willing to testify against him?
-Does anyone really expect him to beat ANY charge thats he's indicted on?
This is more important than the Iraq war to White America. . .they'll celebrate his execution.
It is a well documented the government kept close tabs on OJ since his landmark trial in '95.
DO NOT rule out any government involvment!
Look at the reasons how and why OJ was even in Las Vegas anyway. . .Look at the percentage of blacks that would makeup a jury in Ls Vegas. Nearly, none.
Didnt Tupac mysteriously die there 11yrs ago WITHOUT any suspects to this day?
I don't think O.J will go to jail for this lame ass shyt because they don't have nothing. I heard that tape and that tape doesn't prove shyt and it's not even disturbing so no jury is gonna send somebody to prison over that stupid shyt. They just want to bag O.J for that murder years ago BUT THE GLOVE DIDN'T FIT MUTHAFUGGAS SO LET IT GO. Besides, it's funny to me how they made a big deal out of O.J gettin away with possibly murdering his wife but nobody said a fuggin word about Robert Blake gettin away with the same exact thing. I guess if you're a white man and kill your white wife then it's cool but if a black man kills his white wife he's the fuggin anti-christ or some shyt. Fugg all these racist pieces of shyt. Like Chris Rock said "I'm not saying that O.J should've killed her, BUT I UNDERSTAND". I wish a chick would ride another dude around in a car I bought, I will merk her ass in broad daylight in front of a police station.
Well, all I can say is, we can sit and SAY he's a murderer all day long. Proving it is something else. Personally, I think he killed Nicole and Ron Goldman, but what messed everything up was that racist redneck Mark Furhman. Once he lied on the stand, and got caught planting evidence trying to get an easy conviction, that pretty much ruined the criminal case. So if people want to get angry...fine...but get mad at the rightful person who is responsible for the acquittal. OJ didn't acquit himself. Why get angry at him? He did just as he was supposed to do...get an attorney and have a trial. Matter of fact, OJ never took the stand in his own trial. So it's not like he got up there and said, "Well, see what had happened was......" Now, as for this case...I don't know what the hell he was thinking, but I will say this...if convicted, he's not going to serve one single day in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping. NOOOOOO.....he's going to jail for murder. You know...the case that he was acquitted for? Basically, this is a sly way of trying him for the same crime twice. Robert Blake (white guy who played Baretta back in the 70's) was on trial for murdering his wife...he got acquitted, and I don't see white folk harping on that the way they do OJ. Nor do they harp on the fact that 4 cops beat Rodney King, ON TAPE, and was acquitted. But OJ, whom no one has yet to prove he killed anybody, has been in the news for over a decade. Again, I believe OJ did kill his wife...That's my personal opinion, but I cannot prove that conclusively. Therefore, I have no right to state it as a fact the way the white media has been doing for years.
O.J. HAS GOTS TO BE THE MOST STUPID PERSON I KNOW. HE'LL NEVER STOP CHASING WHITE WOMEN, NEVER GIVE BLACK WOMEN THEIR PROPS AND NEVER STOP BEING A JACKAS$!!!! THEY WERE WAITING FOR HIS DUMB BEHIND TO MESS UP. NOW THEY GOT YOU. I NEVER LIKED FOR HIS NEGATIVE COMMENTS TOWARDS BLACK WOMEN!!!!! WELL O.J. YOU AIN'T GONNA NEVER FIND ANOTHER LAWYER LIKE JOHNNIE!!!!
LMAO @ illslogic!!!
whether he did the murder or not is of no importance anymore. its long gone & over with. they are still trying to pin SOMETHING, ANYTHING on him for that. 13yrs later theyre still angry? lol. whatever. how many blk folks been killed for no reason & they got away with it, nobody cared & if we were to still be talking about it 13yrs later theyd be telling us to "get over it" and "move on". oh well i hope he gets off cuz this is some bullshyt anyway. come up w/ a real crime & proof & then we'll talk.
& for any moran repeating the stupid line "Johnny Cochran can't save you this time". News Flash: Johnny Cochran is dead & you dont have to be sherlock holmes to know that there are 1000's of other highly skilled lawyers out there who would have no problem winning a case against someone accussed of somehting w/o any evidence or proof.
You are all forgetting something very important - OJ HAS A BOOK OUT!!
What do "celebrities" do when they NEED publicity? That's right...[EXPLETIVE] like this!
So, whether he is getting the sentence that he should have gotten or he got the last good lawyer on earth back then, he is once again in the news and ANY publicity is GOOD publicity!
OH WELL!!! THEY WERE GONNA MAKE SURE THEY PUT HIS AZZ BEHIND BARS FOR SOMETHING BEFORE HE LEFT THIS EARTH!! I GUESS THEY SAY, "HEY, IF HE CAN'T DO TIME FOR 2 MURDERS, THEN HE'LL DO TIME FOR SOMETHING ELSE!!" AND WE BLACK FOLK SHOULD LAUGH AT HIS AZZ BECAUSE HE AIN'T NEVER DONE NOTHING FOR US AND HAHAHA, HE AIN'T GOT JOHNNIE COCHRAN AROUND TO BAIL HIS WASHED-UP AZZ OUTTA THIS ONE. R.I.P. JOHNNIE!!!! PHUCK U O.J.!!!!
Are you people serious? The white people want him bad? No one wants to deal with his black a$$. I guess he's not guilty this time too, right? I honestly think that if he killed his own kind, we wouldn't give a *hit about him. I'm from Philly and I'll tell you now we don't care about black on black crime. Ya'll doing us a favor for real. I hope he rots in hell with the rest of you racist a$$ monkeys. I only come on this site to read all of your uneducated black a$$es' comments. You all need to go back to school and learn how to spell. And the people with their myspace handles, are you kidding me? Ya'll some greasy a$$es.
Look yall lets face it, OJ aint gone never learn, this man still has a pilgrim attached to his hip after all Johnnie did to save him from being lynched by these same pilgrims. Obviously he aint got the sense that the lord gave a jackazz, and for that simple reason he should spend the rest of his [EXPLETIVE]-pilgrim-pink toe's lovin ass life up north!!! OJ is an absolute disgrace, I feel sorry for his mother if she is still alive. Poor lady.
I WISH OJ OR SOMEBODY FROM HIS FAMILY READ THESE COMMENTS. BECAUSE HE REALLY NEEDS TO GET SOMEWHERE AND CHILL OUT. HE SHOULD KNOW THAT THE WHITE PEOPLE HE HAS LOVED SO MUCH, WANT TO SEE HIM PUT UNDER THE JAIL SOONER OR LATER. JOHNY C. IS GONE FOR GOOD, WHICH MEANS BLACK PEOPLE WITH MONEY NEED TO BE CAREFUL. STOP GIVING MEDIA THE PLEASURE OF TALKING BAD ABOUT U EVERY CHANCE THEY GET.
O.J. SHOULD HAVE LEARNED HIS LESSON IN 1994....DAMN NIGG@ QUIT [EXPLETIVE] WITH THEM WHITE PEOPLE....I CAN'T SUPPORT YOUR @SS ON THIS ONE....NOW YOU ARE "THE DUMBEST WHITE MAN IN AMERICA"....CONGRATS YOU GOT YOUR WISH....NOW THEY ARE GOING TO HANG YOUR @SS FOR REAL THIS TIME....AIN'T NO GETTING AWAY....WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD.
