Relatives of murder victim Ron Goldman won a court order on Tuesday seizing any money O.J. Simpson earns for lending his name and likeness to a football video game with a fictional team called the Assassins and a knife-wielding mascot.

......

Last week, Goldman's estate, led by his father Fred Goldman, secured rights to Simpson's aborted book, "If I Did It," containing his hypothetical first-person account of the murders, after a long legal fight with the now-bankrupt company set up to collect Simpson's reported $1 million advance.

In their latest bid to collect on the civil judgment, the Goldmans went after any licensing fees, royalties or other compensation Simpson was paid or will be paid for his name and likeness in the new video game, "All-Pro Football 2K8."

The game is published by Take-Two Interactive Software, the company behind such controversial video game titles as "Grand Theft Auto" and "Manhunt 2," which was banned in Britain and given the equivalent of an adults-only rating in the United States.

TEAM OF "ASSASSINS"

"All-Pro Football" features the likenesses of 240 retired National Football League players, including Simpson, whom game users can assign to fictional teams with preset names, one of which is "The Assassins."

As previewed on a Web site for video game promotional trailers, the team mascot is a hooded figure who makes stabbing motions with a large knife in the end zone when the Assassins score. Simpson does not have to be assigned to that team, but he was in a clip shown on the Game Trailers Web site.

Take-Two has declined to say how it obtained rights to Simpson's name and likeness but said he was compensated. The company also has issued a statement saying the knife-wielding Assassins mascot is "not specifically associated with O.J. Simpson, and the game does not promote any such connection."

Under the order issued by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg, any earnings to Simpson that "have been paid, are due or may be due in the future" for use of his image and likeness in the video game must be turned over to the Goldman estate.

Moreover, Simpson was ordered to turn over copies of his Take-Two contract and related documents, as well as any other financial deals he has yet to disclose.

"Basically he (the judge) said to Mr. Simpson, 'Pay up,"' Goldman attorney David Cook said after the hearing.

Ronald Slates, a lawyer for Simpson, argued against the order, saying the California court lacked jurisdiction over his client, who has lived in Florida for several years.

Simpson, who was in Las Vegas for a friend's wedding

What are the chances that this could be one big setup with the goal to get OJ in jail? Fifteen minutes of fame would follow for some lucky person...

• OJ Simpson, the football star-turned-actor who was acquitted of double murder in 1995, was ordered to stand trial in what prosecutors say was the armed robbery of his own memorabilia from a pair of collectors.
  
  Las Vegas Judge Joe Bonaventure ordered Simpson, 60, to stand trial in the September 13 incident at the Palace Palace Station Hotel and Casino.
  
  Prosecutors say Simpson lead five accomplices in stealing the memorabilia at gunpoint from Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.

well if O.J. stole it then that must mean that he really really loves the stuff.

OJ Going Directly to Jail

O.J. Simpson Sentenced to 15 Years for Armed Robbery and Kidnapping

• O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping in a failed attempt to recover sports memorabilia from two collectibles peddlers.
  
  There will be the possibility of parole after six years, Judge Jackie Glass said.
  
  His co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart received the same sentence.
  
  Before the judge handed down his sentence, Simpson apologized to her and the Las Vegas court after learning he won't be able to be freed on bail if he appeals.
  
  Simpson appeared for his sentencing in a blue prison jumpsuit, shackles and handcuffs.
  
  "I stand before you today sorry," an emotional Simpson told Glass, fighting back tears. "I am apologetic to the people of Nevada. ... When I came here, I came here for a wedding. I didn't come to reclaim property."
  
  The 61-year-old former football star, who walked away a free man after a celebrated murder trial, faces mandatory prison time of between six years and life behind bars.
  
  Before Glass read his sentence, she ruled that Simpson cannot be freed on bail pending a possible appeal.
  
  She told Simpson that this case was unusual because everything was caught on tape.
  
  "The evidence in this case was overwhelming," she said. "This was actually a very violent event."
  
  Neither Simpson, who was acquitted of the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles, nor his co-defendant and former golfing buddy, 54-year-old Stewart, testified at trial.

Who'll find the real killer now?

ESPN reported a minimum of 8 years. Beautiful.

This should be interesting.


Chris Oakley talkative User Coffee-Deprived
5000+ posts 8 minutes 23 seconds ago Making a new reply
Forum: Media
Thread: Re: O.J. Going to Prison

LAS VEGAS – O.J. Simpson is headed to prison for at least nine years, but a prosecutor says the former football star could have spent less time behind bars if he had accepted a plea deal before he was convicted.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Simpson was offered a deal for less prison time than the nine- to 33-year prison terms the graying former football star was sentenced to on Friday for kidnapping and assaulting two sports memorabilia dealers with a deadly weapon.

"Mr. Simpson wanted something just short of a public apology," Roger said. "We didn't think that was appropriate."

Roger did not offer specifics of the deal and Simpson's defense lawyers declined to discuss details.

"There was nothing that was palatable. Nothing acceptable," Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter said.

Co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart also rejected a deal that would have had him plead guilty to unspecified reduced charges in return for a promised sentence less than the 7 1/2 to 27 years he received, the prosecutor and defense lawyers said.

"It was a universal deal," said Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson. "Both defendants had to accept it. As we know, that didn't happen."

An emotional and hoarse Simpson said nothing about plea deals when he stood in shackles and blue jail garb and apologized before he was sentenced by Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass.

"In no way did I mean to hurt anybody, to steal anything from anyone," Simpson said, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it."

The judge said she was not convinced, and she denied that Simpson's acquittal in Los Angeles in the 1994 slaying of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, had any effect on a sentence that will make Simpson 70 years old before he is eligible for parole.

"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else. I want that to be perfectly clear to everybody," the judge said.

She called the evidence overwhelming, with the planning, confrontation and aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.

"You went to the room, and you took guns," Glass told Simpson. "You used force. You took property, whether it was yours or somebody else's. And in this state, that amounts to robbery, with use of a deadly weapon."

"And Mr. Stewart, you got caught up in something," the judge added. "I'm not sure how much you knew. But clearly Mr. Simpson knew."

Simpson and Stewart were each convicted Oct. 3 of 12 criminal charges, including the kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon which led to their sentences, and the armed robbery, conspiracy and burglary sentences that the judge folded in with the rest. Glass threw out two coercion charges.

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

Roger called it "a fair and just sentence under the circumstances" and said during a news conference that because the crimes were considered violent felonies, Simpson and Stewart won't be eligible for good time credits to lessen the minimum sentences.

The prosecutor said he did not expect they would immediately be released when they do seek parole.

Galanter and Bryson said they intend to appeal their clients' convictions. But they postponed plans to file notices of appeal Friday, after Glass asked them attend a Tuesday morning restitution hearing concerning the items stolen from memorabilia peddlers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.

The hearing will coincide with sentencings for four former co-defendants in the case who took plea deals and testified against Simpson and Stewart. Michael McClinton, Charles Cashmore, Walter Alexander and Charles Ehrlich each could get probation or prison time. McClinton could get up to 11 years; the others face less.

It'll be the main plotline for the next season of 24.

No.

What happens in Vegas...stays in Vegas.