Saturday, October 04, 2008

OJ guilty in robbery and kidnap trial

He could go away for life. [Link]
O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbery and kidnapping here, 13 years to the day after the American football legend was acquitted of brutally murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

After a three-week trial, a Las Vegas jury deliberated for more than 13 hours on Friday on charges against Simpson and a friend arising from an incident at the Palace Station casino in September last year.

Simpson showed no emotion as he and co-defendant Clarence Stewart were found guilty on all charges, which could see both men facing a maximum life sentence.

Shortly after the verdicts were read out just before 11:00 pm (0600 GMT) local time, Judge Jackie Glass denied a request for Simpson to be released on bail and he was led away in handcuffs.

He will sentenced on December 5.

The 61-year-old former American football hero was accused of storming into a hotel room with a gang of gun-toting cohorts and seizing sports memorabilia from two dealers worth thousands of dollars.

Simpson, who did not testify during his trial, said in interviews after his arrest he had only been recovering personal items stolen from his trophy room, and said he was unaware that his cohorts were armed with weapons.

However, four of Simpson's accomplices on the heist struck plea deals and testified against the sports star during his trial, which played out in low-key contrast to his circus-like 1995 "Trial of the Century."

I would say justice is finally served, but he got off fair and square for killing his wife due to an incompetent prosecution, as unappealing as that outcome was.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, so YOU are the other person who agrees with me about the previous trial. I thought Marsha Clark did an abysmal job of proving her case, up to and including investing so much in the likes of Mark Fuhrman. And that glove! I was never sure whether or not he did the deed, but she surely didn't prove it to my satisfaction. There didn't seem to be sufficient investigation into Ron Goldman at the time, for instance.
I know you and I are about the only two holdouts, but if he actually did it, then perhaps Las Vegas is karma at its finest.

Jeff said...

In a trial, you never ask a question you don't know the answer too and you don't put yourself in a position where you have to rely on the opposition cooperating fully when they have no reason to do so.

I always assumed he did it, but they didn't prove it to the jury.

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