OJ Simpson jailed for at least 15 years
Nico Hines
Goldman family: hope we drove him to it
OJ Simpson has been sentenced to at least 15 years in jail with the possibility of parole after five years.
The former American footballer and Hollywood actor was convicted of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery after a bizarre heist in which he stole items of his own sports memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel and casino.
Simpson, 61, was found guilty on all charges in a courtroom in Nevada, Las Vegas along with Clarence C.J. Stewart, his accomplice. He recruited Stewart and four other men to help hold the sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint and steal hundreds of items in several pillowcases.
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Before he was sentenced today, Simpson was allowed to address the court. I stand before you today sorry and somewhat confused, he said.
When I came here, I came for a wedding I didnt come here to reclaim property. . . In no way did I mean to hurt anybody. I didnt want to steal anything from anybody. I just wanted my personal things.
Im sorry, he said as his voice cracked with emotion. Im sorry for all of it.
Simpsons conviction in October came exactly 13 years after he was acquitted of the brutal double murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, his wife, and her friend Ronald Goldman in the most watched criminal trial in a generation.
In a subsequent civil trial, a jury found Simpson liable for the murder of Mr Goldman and committing battery against his former wife.
Last year, the former running back tried to bring out a "hypothetical" crime memoir describing the killing, entitled If I did it.
Jurors in the robbery case said after the verdict that they were convinced of Simpsons guilt because of audio recordings secretly made of the confrontation with sports memorabilia brokers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong at the Palace Station casino hotel.
Dont let nobody out of this room! Simpson could be heard shouting in the recordings before instructing his accomplices to scoop up items he insists had been stolen from him.
Simpson will appeal his conviction and Yale Galanter, his lawyer, said that jury bias will form the cornerstone of that appeal after it emerged that almost half of the jury believed that he should have been convicted of the double murder more than a decade ago.
Judge Jackie Glass today denied Simpson bail ahead of the appeal.
