In the end, OJ Simpson comes up a loser in Vegas



By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent 2 hours, 59 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS - In a city where luck means everything, O.J. Simpson came out the big loser — and his unlucky number in a case full of bizarre twists was 13.

He was convicted of an armed robbery that happened on Sept. 13 and was found guilty on the 13th anniversary of his Los Angeles murder acquittal. The Las Vegas jury deliberated for 13 hours after a 13-day trial.

And then, as only the sobs of Simpson's sister broke the silence late Friday, the lights went out.

Court marshals flipped on flashlights and shouted for everyone to stay seated. Only the judge knew what had happened. It was 11 p.m. and the courthouse lights had shut down automatically.

"Timed out," Judge Jackie Glass said in a fitting epitaph for the story of O.J. Simpson, which has long haunted America.

The 61-year-old Hall of Fame football star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for gathering five men a year ago and storming a room at a hotel-casino to seize Simpson sports mementos — including game balls, plaques and photos — from two collectors. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed; one said Simpson had asked him to bring a gun.

After the verdict, Simpson, the sports-idol-turned-celebrity-pariah, was handcuffed and led from the room with his co-defendant, Clarence "C.J." Stewart. They could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

"There is justice," said attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented the family of his slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. "Justice was delayed, but in this case it was not denied. Now that he may spend the rest of his life in prison, the law, and not O.J. Simpson, will have the last word."

Some observers said the Las Vegas case paled in comparison to the "trial of the century" in 1995, a yearlong opus in which Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.

A rapt nation followed the Los Angeles trial. Tales of a gruesome murder and a bloody glove, as well as the celebrity defendant, drew a media frenzy.

In Las Vegas, Simpson's fate played out in a small courtroom dotted with empty seats. Even the stunning verdict came as most of America slept, oblivious to the irony that Simpson might spend the rest of his life in prison for what most perceived as a petty crime, a tussle among dysfunctional middle-aged men.

Simpson's Las Vegas defense tried to tell the jury that the two cases had nothing to do with each other, but it was a losing battle.

"I don't know that one trial cancels out the other," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson, who attended Simpson's murder trial. "People will always be troubled by O.J. For the people troubled by the Los Angeles acquittal, this case will make small amends. Saying finally there is justice, at least from a legal perspective, is very crude way of looking at justice."

She predicted that Stewart, 54, will have a strong chance for reversal on appeal because he was forced to stand trial beside Simpson.

"O.J. was toxic, and he has been toxic since 1994, and this jury was just ready to clean up the mess," Levenson said.

Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter said Saturday he felt bad for Simpson but even worse for Stewart, who got dragged along in a campaign to convict Simpson.

"This was just payback," he said of the verdict. "They were on an agenda."

Galanter and Stewart's lawyers promised to appeal, in part because unlike the predominantly black jury that decided Simpson's murder case, this panel included no African-Americans. Neither Simpson nor Stewart testified.

Simpson friend Tom Scotto, who wept in court, called it "a public lynching."

"Was this something to put someone in jail for the rest of their life for? It's a total injustice. There was no justice served in that courtroom," Scotto said.

It was Scotto's wedding that had brought Simpson to Las Vegas on that fateful week in 2007, and details of wedding plans, flowers, a cake and parties formed an ironic counterpoint to testimony about Simpson gathering up a posse that included two gun-toting men to confront memorabilia dealers who were peddling Simpson's personal property to the highest bidder.

The case was set in motion by Thomas Riccio, a collectibles broker who tried to bring in the FBI when he heard that two memorabilia dealers were planning to sell a trove of Simpson artifacts. Failing to get their attention, he helped set up a "sting" by promoting an anonymous buyer who turned out to be Simpson.

Riccio, who has peddled goods including video of Anna Nicole Smith's breast implant surgery, saw a chance to profit by recording the confrontation between Simpson and collectibles dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

He rented a cramped hotel room away from the Las Vegas Strip for the meeting and planted a digital recorder atop an armoire. Riccio then sold the recordings of the six-minute confrontation for $210,000 before turning them over to police eight days later. Although they couldn't be authenticated, the recordings became the heart of the prosecution's case, along with audio recorded by gunman Michael McClinton at two wedding parties.

The recordings were sometimes garbled, but Simpson's voice came through loud and clear: "Don't let nobody out of this room." The words formed the basis of the prosecution's kidnapping charge.

The former football hero also was heard accusing the men of stealing his possessions. His lawyer would argue that Simpson was on a recovery mission to reclaim the artifacts of his life.

But District Attorney David Roger argued that ownership was not a defense to robbery.

Kidnapping is punishable by five years to life in prison. Armed robbery carries a sentence of at least two years behind bars and could bring as much as 30.

Simpson and Stewart were taken to the Clark County jail, where the football star will live in a 7-by-14-foot cell, far removed from his ranch-style home in the lush Miami suburbs. It will be his home until at least Dec. 5, when he and Stewart are scheduled to be sentenced.

Even before the verdict, Simpson appeared resigned that his luck had run out.

He had been prepared for the worst, his lawyer said.

And in a conversation with The Associated Press on Thursday, Simpson implied as much, saying, "I'm afraid that I won't get to go to my kids' college graduations after I managed to get them through college."

Scotto told reporters Saturday that he had spoken to Simpson by phone.

"He's in good spirits," Scotto said. "He's one of the strongest human beings on the planet. He's confident the truth will come out eventually."

• he was convicted 13 years, to the day, if his acquittal
  
• it took the jury 13 hours to convict him in this case
  
• his book (If) I Did It, Here's How" was released on the 13th, and pulled 13 days after its release

O.J. gets at least 9 years for armed hotel robbery
(AP)

AS VEGAS – A weary and beaten-looking O.J. Simpson was put away Friday for at least nine years — and perhaps the rest of his life — for an armed robbery in a hotel room, bringing a measure of satisfaction to those who believed the football star got away with murder more than a decade ago.

The 61-year-old Hall of Famer listened stone-faced, his wrists in shackles, as Judge Jackie Glass pronounced the sentence — 33 years behind bars with eligibility for parole after less than a third of that.

Moments before, Simpson made a rambling, five-minute plea for leniency, simultaneously apologizing for the holdup as a foolish mistake and trying to justify his actions.

He choked back tears as he told her: "I didn't mean to steal anything from anybody ... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it."

The judge said several times that her sentence in the Las Vegas case had nothing to do with Simpson's 1995 acquittal in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else," Glass said.

But Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, and sister, Kim, said they were delighted with the sentence.

"We are thrilled, and it's a bittersweet moment," Fred Goldman said. "It was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs."

Simpson said he and five other men were simply trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and other mementos when he stormed a Las Vegas hotel room occupied by two dealers on Sept. 13, 2007. He insisted the items, which included his first wife's wedding ring, had been stolen from him.

But the judge emphasized that it was a violent confrontation in which at least one gun was drawn, and she said someone could have been shot. She said the evidence was overwhelming, with the planning, the confrontation itself and the aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.

Glass, a no-nonsense judge known for tough sentences, imposed such a complex series of consecutive and concurrent sentences that even many lawyers watching the case were confused as to how much time Simpson got.

Simpson could serve up to 33 years, according to Elana Roberto, the judge's clerk.

In state prison, he will remain in his own cell protected from the general prison population because of his celebrity.

Simpson's lawyer suggested again that his client was a victim of payback for his acquittal in Los Angeles.

"It really made us all aware that despite our best efforts, it's very difficult to separate the California case from the Nevada case," attorney Yale Galanter said.

Some people who followed the case said justice had finally caught up with Simpson.

"You do things and you've got to expect karma to come around," said Greg Wheatley, 32, of Los Angeles.

Simpson was led away to prison immediately after the judge refused to permit him to go free on bail while he appeals.

Simpson's co-defendant and former golfing buddy, Clarence "C.J. Stewart, was sentenced to up to 27 years in prison but would be eligible for parole after 7 1/2 years, court officials said.

The judge could have sent both men to prison for the rest of their lives. The state parole agency recommended at least 18 years. The defense pushed for the minimum six years.

District Attorney David Roger revealed that Simpson and Stewart had both been offered plea agreements during the trial that would have resulted in lesser sentences. He would not provide details.

The prosecutor also said that because the crimes were considered violent felonies, Simpson and Stewart will not be eligible for good-behavior credits to lessen their sentences. He did not expect them to be immediately released when they do seek parole.

The Goldmans took a share of the credit for Simpson's fate, saying their relentless pursuit of his assets to satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment "pushed him over the edge" and led him to commit the robbery to recover some of his valuable sports memorabilia.

Nicole Brown Simpson's sister, Denise Brown, released a statement from her family referring to the date her sister and Ron Goldman were killed.

"Allowing wealth, power and control to consume himself, he made a horrific choice on June 12, 1994, which has spiraled into where he is today," the statement said.

Simpson and Stewart were both brought to the courtroom in dark blue jail uniforms, their hands chained to their waists. Simpson, who had not been expected to speak, delivered his statement to the judge in a hoarse voice before a hushed courtroom.

Both men were convicted Oct. 3 of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery.

"We were preparing Mr. Simpson for the worst," Galanter said. "We felt we did really well. Obviously, he's upset about the possibility of doing nine years."

Galanter planned to file a notice of appeal later Friday. He believed the Goldman family's presence in the courtroom was inappropriate.

Most of the 63 seats in the courtroom were taken by media, lawyers and family members of the defendants. Fifteen members of the public were also allowed.

After sentencing was over, the Goldmans left the courtroom and Kim threw her arms around her father and wept.

One of Simpson's sisters declined to comment, and the other, Shirley Baker, said only: "It's not over."

Jurors who heard 13 days of testimony said after the verdict that they were convinced of Simpson's guilt because of audio recordings that were secretly made of the robbery at the Palace Station casino hotel.

The confrontation involved sports memorabilia brokers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. It was recorded by collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio, who was acting as middleman.

"Don't let nobody out of this room!" Simpson commands on the recordings, and he instructs other men to scoop up items.

On Tuesday, the judge is scheduled to sentence four former co-defendants who took plea deals and testified against Simpson and Stewart.

Michael McClinton, Charles Cashmore, Walter Alexander and Charles Ehrlich could receive probation or prison time. McClinton could get up to 11 years; the others face less.