O.J. Simpson, a former football star acquitted of murder by a jury 14 years ago, was sentenced on Friday to at least nine years in prison for the kidnapping and robbery last year of two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas.
Under the sentence handed down by Judge Jackie Glass at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Simpson, 61, would be eligible for parole in 2017. The maximum time he could serve is 33 years, at which time he would be 94 years old.
O.J. Simpson talks to his attorney Yale Galanter (R) as he is taken into custody after being convicted on all charges in his Las Vegas kidnapping and robbery trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Oct. 3, 2008. Simpson was sentenced on Friday to at least nine years in prison for the kidnapping and robbery last year of two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. Simpson was found guilty of kidnapping two sports dealers and robbing them of sports memorabilia and other mementos in a Las Vegas hotel room on Sept. 13, 2007.
In a rambling, five-minute plea for leniency, Simpson said he went to the down-market hotel in an effort to recover family heirlooms, including his slain ex-wife's wedding ring, to pass down to his children. He insisted the items, which included his first wife's wedding ring, had been stolen from him.
"I didn't mean to steal anything from anybody ... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it," Simpson said, choking back tears.
O.J. Simpson (L) hugs his sister Carmelita Durio next to his friend Thomas Scotto (R) after he was convicted on all charges in his Las Vegas kidnapping and robbery trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Oct. 3, 2008. Glass, who presided over Simpson's trial, testily rejected his protestations.
"When you take a gun with you and you take men with you in a show of force, that is not just a 'Hey, give me my stuff back.' That's something else and that's what happened here," the judge said.
Simpson was acquitted by a jury in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995, although many in the public judged Simpson guilty.
In passing down the sentence on Friday, Glass said several times that the sentence in the Las Vegas case had nothing to do with Simpson's 1995 acquittal.
"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else," Glass said. But Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, and sister, Kim, said they were delighted with the sentence.
"We are thrilled, and it's a bittersweet moment," Fred Goldman said. "It was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs."
Simpson's defense had asked for what they said was the most lenient sentence possible -- six to 17 1/2 years in prison. State parole authorities had recommended at least 18 years in prison
No comments:
Post a Comment