O. J. Simpson sentenced to 33 years

O. J. Simpson close to tears as he is sentenced to 33 years for armed robbery and kidnap
Many believe that he got away with double murder, but O. J. Simpson could not get away with a botched hold-up in a Las Vegas hotel room.

And so yesterday, 13 years after he was acquitted of the gruesome murders of his ex-wife and her friend – the result of a televised trial complicated by racial tensions and the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots – he was sentenced to a maximum of 33 years in prison. In total, he will serve ten sentences – some concurrently, some consecutively.

Legal analysts said that Simpson, 61, would not become eligible for early release for at least nine years. Simpson plans to appeal on several grounds including the fact that his jury was all-white. His codefendant and former golfing companion, Clarence Stewart, was given broadly the same sentence.

Wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, his hair flecked with grey and his hands chained, Simpson almost broke down as he begged the judge for leniency. “I stand before you today sorry, somewhat confused . . . I feel apologetic to the people of the state of Nevada, I’ve been coming here since 1959, I never got into any trouble.”

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Once a hero of the American football field, Simpson lost his freedom trying to “steal back” memorabilia from his glory days. Convicted in October of 12 criminal charges, he said that he had confronted two dealers in an attempt to retrieve family heirlooms that he believed had been stolen from him. He said that the items included his dead wife’s wedding ring.

“In no way did I mean to hurt anybody or steal anything from anybody,” he told the judge. “I just wanted my personal things and I realise now that I was stupid.”

Yale Galanter, Simpson’s lawyer, added: “My client’s acts were beyond stupid . . . Stupidity is not criminality. Mr Simpson’s intent was not to walk into a hotel room and take property that he knew was not his. It was not to injure other people.”

The judge, Jackie Glass – a former TV reporter known for wearing jeans beneath her blue robes – was unsympathetic. After sipping through a straw on a jumbo-sized drink throughout the proceedings, she told Simpson: “At an earlier bail hearing, I said I didn’t know if you were arrogant or ignorant or both. During the trial I got the answer: it was both.

“It was clear to the court that you believed you could do in Las Vegas what you couldn’t do elsewhere – you could get your stuff back.”

Simpson was in Las Vegas for a wedding on September 13, 2007 when, instead, he burst into a hotel room in the Palace Station casino, rented by the two memorabilia dealers, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Forming.

Simpson brought with him several wedding guests who brandished guns. Thomas Riccio, the middleman who had helped him to locate the dealers, made a concealed audio recording of the mêlée that ensued. “Don’t let nobody out of this room!” Simpson could be heard shouting on the tape. Four of Simpson’s accomplices took plea deals before the trial and testified against the former football star. They will be sentenced on Tuesday.

The judge accused Simpson of wanting to prevent the memorabilia from falling into the hands of the Goldman family, who won a civil lawsuit against Simpson over the death of Ron Goldman, the murdered friend of the football player’s wife, Nicole.

“I don’t care what [anyone] says now,” she said. “Guns were brought. At least one was drawn. The potential for harm to occur was tremendous. If the gun had gone off, not only could someone have been hurt, but some tourist walking down the hallway could have been hurt.”

Goldman’s father, Fred, whose family were also given the rights to Simpson’s 2006 bookIf I Did It, a hypothetical account of murdering his wife, was at the hearing. “If our efforts for all these years of pushing him drove him to commit armed robbery in Vegas, great!” he said.

It is a measure of how far America has come that Simpson’s sentencing was greeted with offhand weariness. Thirteen years ago it might have been seen as racially motivated, but in those days the Los Angeles Police Force had just been filmed beating a black man to a pulp. Today a black man has just been elected to the White House.

Judge Glass emphasised that sentencing was in no way a punishment for Simpson’s acquittal 13 years ago.

“I’m not here to sentence Mr Simpson for what happened previously in his life,” she said. “It’s your own words, Mr Simpson, that can be heard throughout these events that have gotten you here in my courtroom.”

Fallen hero

— Full name: Orenthal James Simpson (nicknamed “The Juice”)

— Rose to fame as football rookie in 1969 when the Buffalo Bills selected him as number one player in the entire year’s draft

— Started lucrative film career in 1974 in The Klansman. Went on to co-star in three Naked Gun films

— Retired from National Football League in 1979

— Former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman found stabbed to death at her Los Angeles home in 1994

— Simpson found not guilty in 1995 criminal trial, but 1997 civil suit found him liable for $25million

— Publication of If I Did It – a hypothetical account of the killings – cancelled in 2006 after outcry

Sources: Pro Football Hall of Fame; Times archives