OJ SIMPSON FOUND GUITY 10/03/08

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O. J. Simpson Found Guilty in Robbery Trial

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson was found guilty late Friday on all 12 counts stemming from a confrontation in a hotel room last year, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

O.J. Simpson, left, hugged his friend Thomas Scotto after he was found guilty at his trial in Las Vegas. His sister Carmelita Durio is at right.

The verdict, which comes 13 years to the day after Mr. Simpson was acquitted in the highly publicized murders of his ex-wife and her friend, concluded a four-week trial that many have seen as a proxy for those unsatisfied by that 1995 outcome.

Mr. Simpson now faces 15 years to life for the kidnapping charge as well as a minimum of at least another 10 years in prison on the other charges. His attorney, Yale Galanter, said he would appeal.

The football Hall of Fame inductee showed little emotion as the verdicts were read and the judge denied him bail. As his sister, Carmelita, wept and fainted in the front row, he was led away in handcuffs. Mr. Simpson is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 5.

“He’s extremely upset, extremely emotional,” said Mr. Galanter of the demeanor of his client after being removed from the courtroom. “We knew this was going to be very difficult, we knew the jury was going to be very difficult, we knew the jurisdiction would be very difficult.”

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, said his office would not comment on the case until after sentencing. None of the jurors spoke to the media on Friday.

The charges arose after Mr. Simpson led five cohorts on a raid of a Palace Station Hotel-Casino room and departed with hundreds of memorabilia items related to the sports careers of Mr. Simpson and three other athletes.

The items were in the possession of two memorabilia dealers, Bruce L. Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, who were led to believe that a prospective buyer was coming to browse the goods. Instead, Mr. Simpson and his group burst into the room. According to several witnesses, at least one gun was brandished.

The presence of a weapon adds years to the minimum sentences for nine of the 12 charges, which also included conspiracy to commit robbery and kidnapping, burglary, robbery, assault and coercion.

The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for 13 hours, mulling weeks of testimony as well as hours of surreptitious audio recordings of the planning and execution of the event by Thomas Riccio, a memorabilia auctioneer who arranged the confrontation.

There were no blacks among the jurors, a concern of the defense that Mr. Simpson’s attorneys said would likely be part of an appeal.

Convicted alongside Mr. Simpson, 61, was Clarence Stewart, 54, one of the five men who accompanied Mr. Simpson in the raid. Mr. Stewart faces the same sentences.

Throughout the trial, Mr. Stewart’s attorney E. Brent Bryson asked repeatedly for Mr. Stewart to receive a separate trial because associating with Mr. Simpson was poisonous to the defense. Each of his severance motions was denied.

“If there was ever a trial in the history of American jurisprudence that should have been severed, it was obviously this trial,” a stunned and dazed Mr. Bryson said. “There’s a spillover effect here. There’s a gentleman by the name of O.J. Simpson who was sitting across the table. Mr. Simpson has a certain history that followed him into the courtroom and, unfortunately, it engulfed Mr. Stewart also.”

Mr. Simpson’s defense was that he sought only to retrieve personal keepsakes such as ceremonial footballs from his Hall of Fame N.F.L. career and photographs of his family that were taken from his home years ago. Mr. Roger told the jury that he should have filed a civil lawsuit to regain the items if they were, in fact, stolen from him.

“We don’t want people going into rooms to take property,” said Mr. Roger in his closing arguments on Thursday. “That is robbery. You don’t go in and get a gun and demand property from people.”

Four of the 24 witnesses who testified were the other men who had accompanied Mr. Simpson and Mr. Stewart, all of whom have accepted plea deals from prosecutors in exchange for testimony. Two of them, Walter Alexander and Michael McClinton, carried guns in the incident, and one, Mr. McClinton, testified that he did so at Mr. Simpson’s request.

Mr. Simpson said he did not know that the two would carry weapons and never saw any guns displayed during the incident.

This Simpson trial failed to capture the intense public interest that turned his 1995 trial into the so-called Trial of the Century. That spectacle, in which he was acquitted of stabbing to death his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, became a racial touchstone and turned a list of legal analysts including Greta Van Susteren, Jeffrey Toobin and Star Jones into television stars. Few of the media stars involved in that case flocked to this one — Vanity Fair’s Dominick Dunne was a notable exception — and even Marcia Clark, the former prosecutor who failed to convict Mr. Simpson in 1995, did not appear despite securing media credentials to report for Entertainment Tonight.

Indeed, this case played out against the backdrop of a nation obsessed by a presidential election campaign and the nation’s economic crisis. But the current trial also featured victims who were far less sympathetic, two middle-aged memorabilia dealers who both attempted to profit from their roles in this case by trying to sell their stories to the tabloid media.

The defense focused much of its efforts on discrediting Mr. Fromong, Mr. Beardsley and the four men who assisted Mr. Simpson and Mr. Stewart in the alleged robbery. On several occasions, Simpson attorneys Yale Galanter and Gabriel Grasso caught those witnesses in apparent contradictions, such as when Mr. Fromong insisted he did not try to sell his story despite audio recordings immediately after the incident in which Mr. Fromong is heard saying, “I’ll have ‘Inside Edition’ down here tomorrow. I told them I want big money.”

While Mr. Simpson’s famous acquittal in the 1994 murders was never discussed during the trial, it hung over the proceedings. Jurors were quizzed extensively before their selection about their views of the divisive 1995 trial, and references were made in some of the audio recordings to the fact that Mr. Simpson owes the estate of Ms. Simpson and Mr. Goldman $33.5 million because in 1997 he was held liable in a civil lawsuit for the deaths.

Mr. Galanter attacked that issue in his closing, noting that Mr. Riccio’s recorder had picked up police officers at the crime scene seeming to exult in their chance to prosecute Mr. Simpson. He also noted that Mr. Riccio alone testified that he had made more than $200,000 in fees from the news media in exchange for interviews and rights to his recordings.

“This case has never been about a search for the true facts,” Mr. Galanter said. “This case has taken on a life of its own because Mr. Simpson’s involved. You know that, I know that, every cooperator, every person with a gun, every person who signed a book deal, every person who got paid money, the police, the district attorney’s office, was only interested in one thing: Mr. Simpson.”

A Timeline of Latest O.J. Simpson Case

A Timeline of Latest O.J. Simpson Case

21 hours ago
A timeline of the major events in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case:
Sept. 12 — Simpson checks into the Palms hotel-casino for a friend's wedding and parties late at a casino nightclub.

Sept. 13 — Simpson contacts former golf buddies Clarence Stewart of North Las Vegas and Walter Alexander of Mesa, Ariz., who were also in Las Vegas for the wedding. They discuss a plan to take sports memorabilia from dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.
About 7:30 p.m., police say, the three men and three others meet broker Tom Riccio, rush into a hotel room at the Palace Station casino and seize items at gunpoint from Beardsley and Fromong. Beardsley and Fromong report incident as armed robbery. Simpson is questioned at the Palms hotel.

Sept. 14 — Police name Simpson as a target of investigation. Simpson is again questioned by police. Simpson tells The Associated Press no guns were involved and some of the items belonged to him.

Sept. 15 — Police arrest Alexander at McCarran International Airport, question him and charge him with assault and armed robbery. He is released without bail. Simpson attends the wedding of his friend, Tom Scotto, at the Little White Wedding Chapel.

Sept. 16 — Simpson is arrested at the Palms, questioned by police, arrested and booked into the Clark County jail on felony armed robbery, assault and conspiracy charges. A judge orders him held without bail. Police announce they are seeking several other men.

Sept. 17 — Stewart surrenders to police, turns over items believed to be taken from Beardsley and Fromong, and is released on $78,000 bail. Fromong suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized in Los Angeles.

Sept. 18 — Michael McClinton surrenders to police. Prosecutors formally charge Simpson, McClinton, Stewart and Alexander with nine felonies including kidnapping, which carries a possible life sentence. Simpson is charged with an additional felony count of coercion with a deadly weapon.

Sept. 19 — A judge sets $125,000 bail for Simpson, who posts bond, is released from jail and returns home to Florida. Beardsley is arrested in Las Vegas on a California parole violation. Charles Cashmore, of Las Vegas, surrenders.

Sept. 20 — Beardsley appears in Las Vegas court, waives extradition to California and is ordered held without bail.

Sept. 21 — Cashmore is arraigned and Charles Ehrlich, of the Miami area, turns himself in on felony charges. A judge sets bail for both at $32,000.

OJ Simpson granted $125,000 bail

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A Las Vegas court granted bail of $125,000 on Wednesday to former football star O.J. Simpson, who faces criminal charges stemming from what police say was an armed robbery of his own sports memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel.

Simpson, who was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in 1995 after a sensational double-murder trial, appeared in court at a hearing lasting about 10 minutes. He faces charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, assault and other charges during a hearing in Las Vegas.

Police not giving O.J. celebrity breaks

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, Associated Press Writer



LAS VEGAS - News conferences, a slew of felony charges, a perp walk in handcuffs and detention in a holding cell without bail — it's clear authorities aren't giving O.J. Simpson any celebrity breaks. Police insist such treatment is prudent for a man whose name is synonymous with a slow-speed chase from officers in a white Ford Bronco. But legal experts are questioning whether Simpson is being singled out for extra-tough prosecution in his casino-hotel robbery case as payback for his murder acquittal more than a decade ago.
"It is regrettable that America has not gotten over the O.J. Simpson criminal case," said Carl Douglas, who was co-counsel with Johnnie L. Cochran in Simpson's 1995 criminal trial."The fact that he is being held without bail seems unfair and over the top," Douglas said. "O.J. has always been able to satisfy his obligations to the court. He cooperated with the authorities in this case. He is not a flight risk. And he certainly can't hide anywhere."At least six plainclothes policemen, accompanied by a handful of hotel security guards, arrested Simpson on Sunday at The Palms casino-hotel. He was accused of leading an armed heist of sports memorabilia. Simpson said he was only reclaiming possessions that had been stolen."By our standard, there was no major show of force," Sgt. John Loretto said.Simpson was handcuffed and taken in a police vehicle to the Clark County Detention Center to be booked on six felonies, including two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon. If convicted of the charges, he could get up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count alone.Simpson became inmate number 2648927.Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith, who made the decision to hold Simpson without bail, was "concerned about the flight factor" and because Simpson had no ties to the Las Vegas area, said Judge Nancy Oesterle, who addressed reporters on Monday.Arraignment was set for Wednesday. Yale Galanter, Simpson's lawyer, said he was preparing a bond motion and will ask for Simpson's release on his own recognizance."If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been released by now," he said."You can't rob something that is yours," Galanter said. "O.J. said, 'You've got stolen property. Either you return it or I call the police.'"Police said they were giving Simpson no special treatment — other than keeping him separated from the rest of the general prison population for his own protection.In June 1994, Los Angeles police gave Simpson a day and a time to turn himself in to face allegations he had killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. It was a courtesy, said then-prosecutor Marcia Clark, often extended to celebrities or those with no criminal record.Instead, Simpson jumped in an SUV, apparently with a loaded gun and ready to commit suicide, and led police and media helicopters on a dramatic, televised chase before surrendering."The Bronco chase was a nightmare," said Clark, now a special correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight." "Certainly he has abused that courtesy, so I would not expect anyone to extend it to him again."In a clear misstatement, Capt. James Dillon said Friday at a news conference that, because Simpson was involved, police were being extra careful to conduct "a thorough, biased and competent investigation."But some think it might have been more than a slip of the tongue. Jerry Reisman, a New York lawyer who represented O.J. Simpson in the early 1990s in business and real estate matters, said the public and law enforcement "are looking for some sort of conviction for those who want justice for Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Everyone wants to be the one that gets him." Experts also raised questions about the decision to release a man who police said carried a gun in the alleged holdup of two collectors at a Palace Station casino hotel room. Walter Alexander, 46, of Mesa, Ariz., was released without bail, despite facing charges almost identical to Simpson's. Legal experts said that may indicate his testimony could be key to convicting Simpson. On Monday, another man suspected in the alleged heist surrendered, police said. Clarence Stewart, 35, of Las Vegas, lived at one of the residences that police searched early Sunday to recover some of the memorabilia. Stewart turned over some of the missing goods, including footballs bearing autographs, Lt. Clint Nichols said. Stewart was held on six felony charges: two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary with a deadly weapon and conspiracy. He was awaiting a bail decision. An apparent audiotape of O.J. Simpson's standoff with men he accused of stealing his memorabilia begins with the former NFL star demanding, "Don't let nobody out of here." "Think you can steal my s--- and sell it?" the voice identified as Simpson's said, in a recording released by celebrity news Web site TMZ.com. A big hurdle for prosecutors will also be determining who owned the memorabilia — everything from cleats worn by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, to autographed baseballs, and Simpson's Hall of Fame certificate. Bruce Fromong, one of the sports memorabilia dealers who said he was robbed, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday that the items did not belong to Simpson. "If you're asking did they once belong to him, yes, they did," Fromong said. "But these were things that belonged to him a long time ago." In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica returned $33.5 million in judgments against Simpson in a wrongful-death lawsuit by the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. David Cook, an attorney for Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, said he intended to file requests in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday to obtain ownership of the seized sports memorabilia for sale to satisfy the judgment. "We're going to presume that the bulk of the stuff is probably in police custody," Cook said Monday by telephone from San Francisco. He said other key items were a gold Rolex watch and the suit that he Simpson wore on the day he was acquitted. "Assuming that this case is resolved one way or another, at the end of the case, the stuff will never go back to Mr. Simpson," Cook vowed. "He's going to walk out of Clark County empty-handed." Thomas Mesereau Jr., the defense attorney who represented Michael Jackson in a high-profile trial two years ago, said of the Simpson arrest: "This is the kind of case that will test how fair and professional our legal system is. When you have such a groundswell of dislike for someone, you have to make sure they are treated like anyone else