RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media O.J. Simpson: "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened"

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.