O.J. Simpson Sentenced to 16 Years for Hotel Robbery (Update2)

By Erik Larson and Lindsay Fortado

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- O.J. Simpson, the former Buffalo Bills football player found not guilty 13 years ago of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint.

Nevada State Court Judge Jackie Glass pronounced sentence at a hearing today in Las Vegas, where the hotel holdup took place 14 months ago. Simpson, 61, was found guilty by a jury on Oct. 3 following a three-week trial. He had faced as much as life in prison for the crime.

“I wasn’t there to hurt anybody,” Simpson said today before the sentence was read. “I didn’t want to steal anything from anybody. I didn’t want anybody else’s stuff -- just my own stuff. I’m sorry.”

Simpson and five others were convicted of robbing Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley at the Palace Station hotel casino in September 2007. Prosecutors said Simpson took items including footballs with his autograph. Lawyers for the ex-football star argued Simpson was trying to recover stolen personal memorabilia and that he didn’t know there were guns in the hotel room.

Simpson will remain in custody if he appeals. He may be eligible for parole in six years.

A jury of nine women and three men deliberated for almost 13 hours before finding Simpson and his codefendant, Clarence Stewart, guilty of all 12 counts against each man. The other codefendants, Charles Ehrlich, Michael McClinton, Charles Cashmore and Walter Alexander, pleaded guilty to robbery and testified against Simpson. Today the judge dismissed two counts.

The Meeting

Thomas Riccio, the man who set up the meeting between Simpson and the memorabilia dealers, tape-recorded the alleged robbery and previous conversations at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. Riccio sold the tape to celebrity-gossip Web site TMZ.com and other media outlets.

In the recordings of Simpson, played by prosecutors during the trial, the former football star said “I gotta be at my intimidating best,” and “We gonna get it all back,” prior to the alleged crime.

Surveillance videotapes from the hotel lobby showed Simpson and his codefendants arriving at the Palace Station and later carrying boxes as they left.

Simpson’s lawyer, Yale Galanter, argued throughout the trial that his client wasn’t guilty because he had no intent to commit a crime and didn’t know if anyone with him was carrying a gun.

Thomas Scotto, a Simpson friend who testified during the trial, and Simpson’s sister, Carmelita, cried as the verdict was read in October. Carmelita fainted in the courtroom at the time and paramedics were called.

Prime Suspect

Simpson was the prime suspect in the 1994 murders of his ex- wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. He was acquitted after a state court trial in Los Angeles in 1995. Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil lawsuit and ordered to pay damages to the victims’ families totaling $33.5 million.

Simpson dispersed property to friends in an effort to avoid their confiscation to satisfy the damages award, prosecutors told the jury at the start of the robbery trial. One of those friends was Mike Gilbert, who allegedly sold memorabilia given him by Simpson to Beardsley and Fromong. The two were hoping to make $50,000 to $100,000 by selling it, prosecutors said.

A Florida bankruptcy court awarded publishing rights to a book by Simpson to the Goldmans as part of the unpaid civil judgment. HarperCollins, the book’s original publisher, canceled publication after the contents of the book drew criticism.

The Goldman family, in an effort to raise money, published “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” an account of the alleged murders that Simpson has said is hypothetical.

The case is Nevada v. Orenthal James Simpson, 07-237890, Nevada District Court, Clark County (Las Vegas).

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in Nevada District Court, Clark County, in Las Vegas at elarson4@bloomberg.net and; Lindsay Fortado in New York at lfortado@bloomberg.net.


Source: bloomberg.com