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Tag: OJ Simpson

  • O.J. Simpson Loses Bid for New Trial in Las Vegas

    OJ Simpson has filed for a new trial, in Las Vegas for the charges brought against him in 2008, where he and co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart were found guilty on 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

    Kind of ironic that the guilty verdicts came 13 years to the day after a Los Angeles jury acquitted Simpson of killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

    Earlier this week, that motion was denied and he could be facing another 4 years in prison. “All grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently, are denied,” Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell said in her ruling Tuesday.

    OJ is claiming his attorney’s did not represent his case properly.

    OJ has already served time, and was sentenced to between 9 and 33 years in a Nevada state prison but was granted parole on some convictions in July. His legal defense team held firm on the fact that he was simply trying to retrieve his own sports memorabilia, which was stolen from him, when he rushed into that hotel room where he and his team lured the sports dealers, with guns, planning to use force if needed.

    “It was my stuff,” Simpson said. “I followed what I thought was the law. My lawyer told me I couldn’t break into a guy’s room. I didn’t break into anybody’s room. I didn’t try to muscle the guys.”

    Simpson’s new lawyer, Patricia Palm has claimed that the former football star’s legal team botched the case. “We’re confident that when we get to the right court we’ll get relief because he deserves relief, because he didn’t get a fair trial,” Palm told The Associated Press.

    Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson disagrees with Palm, saying, “I believe Mr. Simpson received a fair trial and had more than competent counsel.”

    His further appeal to the Nevada Supreme might just rest on deaf ears, as Bell’s 101-page ruling rejected arguments that Simpson received inadequate legal representation. The ruling was detailed and will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. “Mr. Simpson’s convictions stem from serious offenses,” she wrote. Judge Bell also noted the involvement of six co-conspirators and weeks of advance planning.

    “As long as he has resources he can continue to try, but I don’t think he will get a new trial or a reduced sentence,” says Robert Pugsley, another law professor at Southwestern Law School.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • OJ Simpson Denied New Trial By Judge

    Former NFL star O.J Simpson has lost his bid for a new trial in his Las Vegas armed robbery and kidnapping sentencing. Clark County District Judge, Linda Marie Bell ruled Tuesday that “all grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently, are denied”. This means that Simpson could face 4 more years in prison.

    Simpson’s lawyer, Patricia Palm, has said she was disappointed about the ruling and has vowed to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. “We’re confident that when we get to the right court we’ll get relief because he deserves relief, because he didn’t get a fair trial,” Palm told The Associated Press.

    Simpson, 66, was sentenced for up to 33 years in Nevada state prison in 2007 after he was found guilty of kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. In his defense, Simpson said he tried to reclaim collectible and personal items he believed had been stolen from him from two sports memorabilia dealers in a hotel room.

    When committing the act, he was accompanied by five other men who helped in seizing the items from the dealers.  However, Simpson was granted parole on some of the convictions in July 2013, meaning he must serve four more years in prison if his bid for retrial flops.

    Simpson now argues that he received bad legal advice from his lawyers led by Yale Galanter and that he was not effectively represented. Galanter has however come out strongly to refute Simpson’s claims saying he feels vindicated by the judge’s ruling.

    “As O.J.’s lawyer and confidante, it was gut-wrenching for me to have to be in a position to defend my strategy and efforts on his behalf as his lawyer and testify against my client,” Galanter said by telephone.

    A section of the 101 page ruling reads, “Mr. Simpson’s convictions stem from serious offences,” the judge wrote. “Mr. Simpson specifically asked two of his co-conspirators to bring weapons … to show the sellers he meant business,” she said.

    Simpson was well known for his exceptional talent as a pro football player. However, he became infamous in 1995 after being acquitted of murdering his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In the court of public opinion, his current incarceration is seen by many as retribution for him getting away with murder.

    (image via YouTube)

  • OJ Simpson Denied Request For New Trial

    OJ Simpson Denied Request For New Trial

    A Nevada judge has denied OJ Simpson’s request for a new trial after he was convicted in 2007 for armed robbery and kidnapping. Simpson wanted the new trial to tell his side of the story, about the botched armed robbery he was convicted of. He claims his lawyer was insufficient in defending him and that he deserved a chance to tell the truth. Simpson was convicted exactly 13 years to the day after he was acquitted for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman, in 1995.

    Simpson’s other argument was that the men who were with him got much shorter sentences for the same crime. “The difference between all of their crimes and mine is that they were trying to steal other people’s property, they were trying to steal other people’s money,” Simpson said. “My crime was trying to retrieve, for my family, my own property. I missed my two younger kids who worked hard getting through high school, I missed their college graduations. I missed my sister’s funeral. I missed all the birthdays.”

    Despite Simpson’s plea, the judge found no grounds to allow a new trial, which will leave Simpson serving the remainder of his sentence that could be 4 to 33 years. Simpson was sentenced in 2008 and will not be eligible to receive parole until he is 70-years-old. He is currently 66.

    “All grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently, are denied,” the Clark County District Judge, Linda Marie Bell, said.

    Simpson was charged after trying to steal belongings, that he claims were already his, from two men that sold sports memorabilia. The men accompanying him were carrying fire arms that Simpson claims he did not know about. However, the judge remained firm in saying that he had not only planned the robbery, but he had also asked his co-conspirators to bring the weapons.

    “Mr. Simpson’s convictions stem from serious offenses,” Bell wrote. “Mr. Simpson specifically asked two of his co-conspirators to bring weapons … to show the sellers he meant business,” she said.

    “It was my stuff,” Simpson said. “I followed what I thought was the law. My lawyer told me I couldn’t break into a guy’s room. I didn’t break into anybody’s room. I didn’t try to muscle the guys. The guys had my stuff, even though they claimed they didn’t steal it.”

    Simpson’s current lawyer, Patricia Palm, said that she was disappointed with the decision and plans on appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court. “I’m shocked, I’m upset, I’m disappointed, I’m confident that it’s going to be overturned when we get to the right court,” Palm said of Bell’s ruling. “We’re confident that when we get to the right court we’ll get relief because he deserves relief, because he didn’t get a fair trial.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • O.J. Simpson Isn’t The Only O.J. Buzzing On Twitter (And No, It’s Not O.J. Mayo)

    OJ Simpson is plastered all over the news media as he appears back in court. The ex-NFL player turned actor, turned murder suspect, is seeking to have a robbery conviction thrown out.

    Heading to Twitter to see what people were saying about it, I searched for “OJ” on Twitter expecting a flood of commentary about the ordeal. To my surprise, there seems to be about as many people talking about orange juice as there are O.J. Simpson (though there are a lot of “who cares about OJ Simpson?” kinds of tweets coming out).

    You can be certain, however, that a lot of people still care about Orange Juice. Good news for orange farmers.

    I’m not sure if this one is about juice or about Simpson:

    Sure, people talking about orange juice on Twitter is not the most interesting thing in the world, but it’s mildly interesting to see how rapidly tweets can roll in about any random topics – not just trending topics. Note how close together these orange juice tweets are, and they only make a small sample. It really illustrates just how much of a pulse Twitter really has on what people are saying and doing all over the world. I mean, just look at what it’s been able to do to map the use of hateful words across the U.S.