O.J. Simpson,who walked away a free man after one of America’s most sensational murder trials, was today sentenced to 15 years in prison for a botched attempt to recover sports memorabilia.
Simpson, 61, and his co-defendant and former golfing friend, Clarence “CJ” Stewart, were convicted in October of 12 criminal charges including kidnapping and armed robbery.
The former American football star was found guilty of holding up two sports memorabilia dealers in a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino in Las Vegas before stealing from them in September last year.
Simpson will be eligible for parole after six years. Stewart received the same sentence.
In a long preamble before sentencing, prosecutors sought to pin the blame mainly on Simpson rather than his co-defendant. They said Simpson was the ringleader of the crime, the one who secured the guns and the one who escalated the violence.
“It could have been a lot worse,” the prosecution said. “He’s the person who ruined so many lives.”
Simpson’s two defence lawyers mounted strong appeals for clemency before an emotional Simpson stood up to say he was sorry. Wearing a blue prison suit, he defended his actions as those of a man trying to recover property that had been stolen from him.
“This was the first time I had an opportunity to catch these guys red-handed who were stealing my property,” Simpson told the judge.
“I did not mean to hurt anyone, I did not mean to steal anything, just my own stuff,” Simpson said. “I just wanted my personal things back… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”
The judge, Jackie Glass, said Simpson’s behaviour amounted to much more than stupidity.
“It was a very violent event, guns were brought. The potential for harm to occur in that room were tremendous,” she said.
Glass made it clear that she was sentencing Simpson solely for the case in Las Vegas, and not for any of his past actions.
“I’m not here to sentence Mr Simpson for what happened previously,” she said. “I’m not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else.”
Simpson achieved international notoriety when he was cleared of murdering his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles in 1995. The verdict of the mainly black jury in what was called the trial of the century divided America along racial lines and prompted debates over the suitability of televised court cases.
Today Goldman’s father, Fred, expressed his satisfaction with the verdict outside the court.
“It’s a bittersweet moment that this SOB ill be in jail for a long time. He still had that arrogant look on his face when he came in and he still had that arrogant look when he walked out. He’s going be where he belongs,” he said.
In the Las Vegas trial, Simpson was accused of taking a gang of men to the Palace Station to retrieve items he lost while trying to hide them from Goldman’s family, which won $33.5m in damages from Simpson in a civil case over the deaths of Brown and Goldman.
Four of the five men who accompanied Simpson to the casino – Charles Cashmore, Walter “Goldie” Alexander, Michael “Spencer” McClinton and Charles Ehrlich – agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testified against Simpson and Stewart.
Simpson’s lawyers said he never intended to commit a robbery but wanted to reclaim personal mementos of his career and family life that were being sold by the dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.
Simpson did not give evidence during the three-week trial, and jurors were instructed not to consider that fact when judging the case. Glass, who rejected several mistrial motions and kept a tight rein on proceedings, warned the all-white jury against trying to punish Simpson over the death of his former wife.
She told them that if they hoped to become famous because of the trial “then this is not the case for you”.
The charges included two of first degree kidnapping, two of armed robbery, two of assault with a deadly weapon, two of coercion with a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime, kidnapping and robbery.
Jurors who heard 13 days of testimony said after the verdict that they were convinced of Simpson’s guilt because of recordings secretly made of the September 2007 confrontation at the Palace Station casino hotel with Beardsley and Fromong.
“Don’t let nobody out of this room!” Simpson commands on the recordings, and he instructs other men to scoop up items he insists had been stolen from him.
Simpson’s friends insist that the whole thing was a set-up as Thomas Riccio, who had encouraged Fromong and Beardsley into setting up shop in the hotel’s room 1203, had also bugged the place. It was Riccio who told Simpson about the men. He sold the resulting audio tapes, on which Simpson can be heard, for thousands of dollars to a celebrity website.
On Tuesday, Glass is scheduled to sentence those who agreed to testify against Simpson and Stewart.