In an ironic twist, O.J. Simpson was found guilty by a Las Vegas jury on the
13th anniversary of his famed murder acquittal. The 61-year old former
football great was convicted on 12 counts, including kidnapping and armed
robbery.
Last year, Simpson and a group of men stormed a hotel casino to confront
sports memorabilia dealers Simpson said stole personal memorabilia from him.
One of the men with Simpson was armed and testified that Simpson had asked
him to bring the gun.
Simpson and co-defender Clarence “C.J.” Stewart were escorted in handcuffs
out the courtroom late Friday evening. Kidnapping has a potential sentence
of five years to life in prison while armed robbery carries a sentence that
could bring as much as thirty years. Sentencing is scheduled for December 5.
Both defendants are slated to remain at the Clark County jail until that
time, although Simpson’s attorney is planning to ask that he be released on
bond.
The nation stopped in its tracks when Simpson was charged with killing his
ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. This time around, there was much
less buzz surrounding Simpson¹s case. Although his defense attorneys tried
to keep the two cases separate in the jury¹s minds, it was pretty clear that
many people saw this as delayed justice.
Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter told the Associated Press that he felt bad for
his client but even worse for Stewart, who got dragged along in a campaign
to convict Simpson.
“This was just payback,” he said of the verdict. “They were on an agenda.”