OJ Simpson Convicted: OJ Simpson Found Guilty of Las Vegas Hotel Memorabilia Robbery in 2007! OJ Simpson, the former NFL footballer who got acquitted in 1995 for murdering wife Nicole Brown Simpson, was convicted Friday Oct. 3 in Las Vegas for a confrontation happened at the sin city's Palace Station Hotel-Casino in September, 2007.
The 61-year-old Heisman Trophy winner was found guilty on all 12 counts, including conspiracy to commit robbery and kidnapping, burglary, robbery, assault and coercion, by nine of jurors, none of them were black compared to eight out of twelve when he was cleared of crimes in 2005.
OJ Simpson who was said to appeal now faces up to 25 years or life in the prison. He will be sentenced on December 5, 2008.
OJ Simpson Found Guilty of 2007 Las Vegas Hotel Memorabilia Burglary(Image credit: Steve Marcu/NYT)
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.
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 an additional 10 years in prison on the other charges. His attorney, Yale Galanter, said he would appeal.
After the verdicts were read, the judge revoked the bail for Mr. Simpson, a Heisman Trophy winner and an inductee in the National Football Hall of Fame. 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.
The charges arose after Mr. Simpson led five cohorts on a raid of a guest room at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino 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 9 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. Eight of 12 jurors were black when he was acquitted in 1995 on charges that he stabbed to death his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
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.
Source: New York Times
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