O.J. Simpson Suspected in Armed Robbery

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indra said:


Exactly! I used to ride horses and wore leather gloves which would often get wet clear through. They would shrink up terribly -- especially the show gloves which because I didn't show that much would have have weeks and even months between uses -- but I could always get them back on and stretched out.

And yes, the prosecution was incredibly stupid to have him "try" to put those gloves on. Of course he wasn't going to get them to fit! (I doubt it would have made a bit of difference in the outcome even if they have fit perfectly though. :shrug: )

They showed a clip of him trying them on last night. Besides all of the things we already stated, he was wearing rubber surgical gloves (I guess to protect the evidence) when he tried on the leather glove on top of the surgical gloves , which just added another layer of "non-fit" to the situation.
 
namkcuR said:


Who said anything about innocent?

You just seem to go out of your way to defend this guy, with your revisionist history of how his murder trial went down to trying to redefine the kidnapping laws.

I understand not wanting anyone to turn this into a 'revenge' thing, but I don't really think anyone has to try hard to really make this any worse than OJ did for himself.
 
ultravioletluvv said:


You've got to be kidding. Besides all of the DNA, and the Bruno Magli shoes that were proven belonged to him. The gloves that were found (planted or not) were proven to be a gift that Nicole had given to O.J. He wore the same fucking gloves that she gave him to butcher her! How do you explain that? And the noises outside Kato's room right after the murder? The cops hadn't even discovered the crime scene yet. Why would O.J. park his Bronco on the side of his house, when he had that huge driveway with several garages? And the fact that the limo driver waited and waited for somebody to answer at O.J.'s house. What about the cut on his hand? Must have just been a coincidence, eh? There is so much evidence that he did it. That's why to this day people still feel so strongly about this case.

Yes all of that too. And the race card.

I was working part time nights during that trial and I watched the whole thing. I never once felt that that whole smoke and mirrors spaghetti against the wall defense they put up ever constituted reasonable doubt. The fact that they came back with a verdict so fast proved to me that they had made up their minds long before they deliberated. It was a farce-the judge allowed the defense to get away with so much and was heavily influenced by the cameras. And I never went to law school but I would never have him try on that glove, ever. Incompetence reigned supreme. All of these elements and more allowed him to get away with two murders.
 
:eek: What do they mean ... 'BAIL' !! :tsk:



O.J. Simpson's Bail Set at $125,000
By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer
4 hours ago


LAS VEGAS - A judge set bail Wednesday at $125,000 for O.J. Simpson in connection with the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors at a Las Vegas hotel. His attorney later said he expected the former football star to be released within hours and return to Florida.

Simpson, standing in court in a blue jail uniform and handcuffs, furrowed his brow as the judge read the list of charges against him.

He answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. laid out restrictions for his release, including surrendering his passport to his attorney and having no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

Simpson did not enter a plea.

Unlike his arraignment over a decade ago in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman, when Simpson declared he was "absolutely 100 percent not guilty," he was subdued throughout the proceeding Wednesday.

"Mr. Simpson do you understand the charges against you?" the judge asked.

"Yes, sir," Simpson responded.

Attorney Yale Galanter said after the hearing that the $125,000 bond was reasonable and had already been arranged for Simpson. He said Simpson would plead not guilty.

"We expect Mr. Simpson to be processed and released fairly quickly," Galanter said. "He's relieved. This has been a very harrowing experience for him."

Security at the courthouse was tight for the arraignment hearing. People entering the courtroom were screened by security officers and Las Vegas police with bomb-sniffing dogs.

The case has attracted a swarm of media, including Marcia Clark, who unsuccessfully prosecuted Simpson for the 1994 murders and was reporting for "Entertainment Tonight."

Simpson, 60, was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his hotel room at the Palace Station casino and took several items that Simpson claimed belonged to him. He has been held since then in protective custody in a 7-foot-by-14-foot cell.

The Heisman Trophy winner was charged with kidnapping, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, coercion with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

"These are very serious charges," Galanter said. "He is taking it very seriously."

Authorities allege that the men went to the room on the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. According to police reports, the collectors were ordered at gunpoint to hand over several items valued at as much as $100,000.

Beardsley told police that one of the men with Simpson brandished a pistol, frisked him and impersonated a police officer, and that another man pointed a gun at Fromong.

"I'm a cop and you're lucky this ain't LA or you'd be dead," the man said, according to the report.

"One of the thugs _ that's the best thing I can call them _ somebody blurted out 'police!' and they came in military style," Beardsley said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show. "I thought it might have been law enforcement or the FBI or something because I was ordered to stand up, and I was frisked for weapons."

"At no time did Mr. Simpson hold any type of firearm at all," he said.

Beardsley also cast doubt on the authenticity of a recording of the confrontation made by Tom Riccio, the man who arranged the meeting between Simpson and the two collectors. Riccio reportedly sold that tape to celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com.

"I do not believe that these tapes are accurate," Beardsley said. He said information was missing and the recordings should be professionally analyzed.

"Simpson confronted me, saying 'Man what's wrong with you, you have a turn-over order, you have a turn-over order for this stuff, man,'" Beardsley said, but he said that part wasn't on the tapes.

The Los Angeles Times reported that court records show Riccio has an extensive criminal history from the 1980s and '90s, including grand larceny in Florida, possession of stolen goods in Connecticut and receiving stolen property in California. According to the newspaper, Riccio acknowledged his past in a telephone interview late Tuesday.

Riccio said he was not concerned with how his past might affect his credibility "because everything's on tape. That's why it's on tape."

He also said he had been promised some form of immunity by prosecutors.

The memorabilia taken from the hotel room included football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques, together valued at as much as $100,000.

Although Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman, a jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful death lawsuit and ordered him to pay a $33.5 million judgment. On Tuesday, a California judge gave a lawyer for Goldman's father a week to deliver a list of items Simpson was accused of taking from the hotel room, raising the possibility that they could be sold to pay off the judgment.

"He's ordered to pay us millions of dollars," Goldman's sister, Kim Goldman, said Wednesday on NBC. "If he went to Vegas to go collect on those things so we wouldn't, there's some irony in that."

She also said she felt some satisfaction with Simpson's arrest.

"I'm not going to lie to you, I do feel a little bit of elation to see him in handcuffs," she said. "I hope that in some way the pressure that we put on him for the last 13 years drove him to this."

Two other defendants, Walter Alexander, 46, and Clarence Stewart, 53, were arrested and released pending court appearances. Stewart turned in some of the missing goods and Alexander agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, authorities said. A fourth suspect, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, surrendered to police Tuesday.

Police were seeking two other suspects, whom they had not identified.
 
Forget about thinking he couldn't get the bail ... he was released. :yikes:



O.J. Simpson Released From Vegas Jail
By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour ago


LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson was released from jail Wednesday after posting $125,000 bail in connection with the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors at a Las Vegas hotel. Simpson, wearing a light blue sport coat and dark blue pants, carried a black bag as he strolled to a gray sedan with his lawyer and drove away from the Clark County Detention Center.

He did not speak to reporters or to at least one bystander who cheered.

Another spectator shouted, "Justice for Nichole, justice for Ron," as Simpson walked to the car.

Simpson's lawyer has said he expected the former football star to return to his Florida home.

Simpson, who spent three nights in the Las Vegas jail, was freed about two hours after appearing in court, where he told a justice of the peace that he understood the charges against him, including first-degree kidnapping, which carries the possibility of life in prison with parole.
 
this is over blown

and when the smoke settles

(high price attorneys with 'reasonable" arguments)

he will be back on the golf course
(the glove will not fit, you must acquit!)


the kid napping will be definitely be tossed out
 
O.J. Simpson Freed After Posting Bail
By KEN RITTER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour ago


LAS VEGAS - In a scene of legal deja vu, a grayer, heavier O.J. Simpson stood handcuffed in court Wednesday to face charges that could put him behind bars for life. The prosecutor who failed to get him a dozen years ago was there to watch, and news cameras tracked his every move as if they were covering a slow-speed chase.

But as Simpson made his $125,000 bail on charges including kidnapping and armed robbery, legal experts were questioning: Could a former football star who beat a double-murder rap really do hard time for a crime that sounds like a bad movie?

Police have laid out a case that makes Simpson the leader in an armed holdup of sports memorabilia collectors, and they arrested a fifth suspect in the case Wednesday. Some of the facts _ including a curious recording of the confrontation _ don't seem so clear-cut.

Legal experts say that issues such as who had rightful ownership of the goods and the reputation of witnesses in the sometimes less-than-reputable world of memorabilia trading could cloud the prosecution's case.

Simpson has insisted he was merely retrieving items that were stolen from him earlier.

Alfred Beardsley, one of the collectors who says he was robbed at gunpoint by Simpson and several other men, told NBC's "Today" show before Simpson's hearing that he didn't think an audiotape made at the scene was accurate. Beardsley was arrested on a parole violation Wednesday.

The other victim, Bruce Fromong, was recovering from a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital. The man who arranged the meeting between Simpson and the two collectors, Tom Riccio, has a criminal record.

"The credibility of the cohorts in the enterprise would be a key issue at trial," said University of Southern California law professor Jody Armour.

Agreed, said Dennis Turner, a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law. "This is a pretty shady world and pretty shady characters dealing with each other in a pretty shady way."

A key difference with the 1995 murder trial is that there are plenty of witnesses this time who place Simpson at the scene, including hotel video surveillance. Simpson has made no secret he went to the hotel room intending to take the memorabilia and told The Associated Press that a man who came with him brought a truck to cart away the goods.

"It's not like the murder case involving his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, where Simpson had a completely different story in which he said, 'I wasn't there,'" said Doug Godfrey, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. "A prosecutor only has to show intent. And the intent is, 'Were you acting in concert with someone with a gun to take property from someone?' If you were, you're guilty of armed robbery."

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter said: "You can't rob something that is yours."

Simpson furrowed his brow as the judge read the list of charges against him. Gone was the slight smirk he flashed when he was arrested.

He answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as the judge laid out restrictions for his release, including surrendering his passport to his attorney and having no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

Simpson did not enter a plea.

Galanter said after the hearing that the $125,000 bond was reasonable.

The oddity of the case has attracted a swarm of reporters, including Marcia Clark, who unsuccessfully prosecuted Simpson for the 1994 murders and was reporting for "Entertainment Tonight." A helicopter television crew followed Simpson's vehicle leaving the court, strangely reminiscent of the slow-speed chase in which he once fled police in a white Ford Bronco.

Simpson, 60, flew home to Miami later Wednesday in a spectacle just as surreal. US Airways emptied a plane so he could board first with Galanter and his girlfriend, Christine Prody.

Simpson sat in seat 6D, an aisle seat in economy class. Passengers who boarded behind him took pictures with cell phones and cameras. He nodded and smiled as they passed.

Simpson was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into a hotel room at the Palace Station casino and took several items.

The Heisman Trophy winner spent three nights in jail after being charged with kidnapping, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, coercion with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Four other men have been arrested on many of the same charges, and police were still looking for another suspect.

Charles Howard Cashmore, 40, surrendered to police Wednesday and was scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning. Cashmore brought in items that are believed to have been taken, police said without elaborating.

Authorities allege that the men went to the room Sept. 13 on the pretext of brokering a deal with two longtime collectors, Beardsley and Fromong. According to police reports, the collectors were ordered at gunpoint to hand over several items valued at as much as $100,000, including football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider and framed awards and plaques.

Beardsley told police he expected that night that the collection would earn $35,000 from the "client" he had never met.

Beardsley told police that one of the men with Simpson brandished a pistol, frisked him and impersonated a police officer, and that another man pointed a gun at Fromong.

Authorities said Beardsley, of Burbank, Calif., was paroled in March 2006 after serving 11 months of a two-year sentence for stalking a woman in Riverside County.

He was arrested at his room at the Luxor hotel Wednesday for violating parole. A California corrections spokesman said Beardsley was required to get written approval before traveling more than 50 miles from home or leaving home for more than 24 hours.

Beardsley was held without bail pending an extradition hearing Thursday.

Court records show Riccio also has a criminal history, including grand larceny in Florida in 1984, when he received three years of probation; and felony arson in 1995, in California, for which he was sentenced to two years.

Riccio has said he was not concerned with how his past might affect his credibility "because everything's on tape. That's why it's on tape."

He also said he had been promised some form of immunity by prosecutors.

Two other defendants, Walter Alexander, 46, and Clarence Stewart, 53, were arrested and released pending court appearances. Stewart turned in some of the missing goods and Alexander agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, authorities said. Suspect Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, surrendered to police Tuesday. Jailers were unable to say whether Cashmore or McClinton had retained a lawyer.

Police have not identified the remaining suspect they are seeking.

Armour said if the other suspects who have been arrested turn on Simpson in exchange for lighter sentences, it could help the prosecution, but also damage their credibility. Allegations of a setup could also cast doubt on the testimony of the memorabilia dealers, he said.

"But at the end of the day, that may not matter as much as whether they think he (Simpson) deserves some punishment for something," Armour said.
 
Originally posted by Carek1230
I cannot believe someone actually sprang him from jail! And he went right to the Bond place to sign papers then hopped a plane to Florida. Jeez.....

Sounds like he was 'running for his life'. :hmm:

(or maybe, 'running from it') :lol:
 
Vegas Court to O.J.: Sorry for Candid Camera
Fri Sep 21, 11:38 AM


O.J. Simpson isn't getting much love in Las Vegas these days. But at least he's getting an apology.

The head honcho of the Clark County Courts has written an apology to Simpson via his attorneys, Yale Galanter and Gabriel Grasso, after a court reporter snapped an illicit cell phone photo of the Naked Gunner during his bail hearing earlier this week.

"On behalf of the Clark County Courts, I apologize for the actions of one of our contract employees," writes Charles J. Short, the executive officer of the district. (Read the full letter.)

Short says the photo was snapped by an unidentified male staffer as Simpson exited the courtroom after Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure Jr. set bail at $125,000.

"Our court is a professional organization and this behavior is an aberration that will not be tolerated. The court does not condone this type of conduct by its employees and deeply regrets this took place," Short continues.

"I can assure that this has been addressed with this individual in the appropriate way."

Short adds that the photo was immediately deleted from the cell phone and was not "shared electronically."

There was no immediate comment Friday from either Grasso, who's based in Las Vegas, or Galanter, Simpson's longtime legal eagle who, like Simpson, resides in Florida.

Simpson has remained on the down-low since returning to Miami late Wednesday. He is facing 11 counts, 10 of them felonies ranging from kidnapping to armed robbery, for his Sept. 13 vigilante-style raid on memorabilia dealers who had some of his mementos.

The last two of Simpson's five suspected coconspirators were arraigned Friday on similar counts to the rest.

Charles Cashmore, 40, of Las Vegas, and Charles Bruce Ehrlich, 53, of Miami, were caught on security cameras hauling items out of the Palace Station casino after apparently liberating them from the collectors.

Police took Simpson's alleged accomplices into custody immediately following their appearance before Joe Bonaventure, who set bail at $32,000 apiece.

Ehrlich's lawyer, John Moran Jr., said his client was merely an "acquaintance" of Simpson's and "not a principal in this thing." The attorney said Ehrlich would likely make bail and return to the Sunshine State later in the day.

Cashmore, however, isn't expected to post bail, said his lawyer, Edward Miley, who also acknowledged that Cashmore has been arrested at least twice before for passing bad checks. Bonaventure has set Cashmore's preliminary hearing date for Oct. 4.

Simpson himself isn't due back in Vegas until the week of Oct. 22 for his arraignment.

When he returns to Sin City, he'll need to find a new place to stay.

Palms hotel proprietor George Maloof has revoked the welcome mat after the negative publicity Simpson drew, a Palms spokesman confirmed to E! News.

Simpson, initially in town for a wedding, had spent seven days at the traditionally celeb-friendly resort.

But he was arrested at the Palms and led out in cuffs, a scene that played in heavy rotation on newscasts and online.

"It's highly unlikely he'd stay here again. We don't need the drama," Maloof told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"It was a disruption and a hindrance to our other guests," Maloof told the newspaper, adding that he did not comp Simpson for his stay.

Maloof also said that Simpson fiasco was worse than such other casino landmark moments as Britney Spears' insta-marriage to Jason Alexander in 2004 or the Video Music Awards, which took place three days earlier and featured Spears' ill-fated comeback performance and a fistfight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee.

"[Simpson] was nonstop for a week," Maloof told the Review-Journal. "It just kept going. We had hundreds of media calls."
 
Does anyone else here imagine Johnnie Cochran doing flip flops in his grave over this latest of OJ's ridiculous life? He is one of very few who know the truth about OJ.
 
:bump:


Here's the latest ... :hmm:


O.J.'s Rolex a Fake, Ordered Returned
By Associated Press
Fri Oct 5, 6:09 PM


SANTA MONICA, Calif. - O.J. Simpson is getting his fake Rolex watch back. The timepiece, seized earlier this week by attorneys for Fred Goldman, was ordered returned to the former football star after it was determined to be a knockoff made in China.

Goldman has won a multimillion-dollar wrongful death judgment against Simpson, but the watch has so little value it falls under an exemption in the judgment excluding jewelry worth less than $6,075.

Goldman lawyer David Cook said his client will comply with Friday's order by Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg.

"While we are clearly disappointed with the outcome, this tells us that collecting on this judgment, against this guy, is really tough," Cook said.

Cook had hoped the watch might be worth as much as $22,000, but an appraisal from San Francisco jeweler Shreve & Co. concluded it was worth only about $100. Simpson had told his lawyer, Ronald Slates, he paid $125 for it.

Cook told Rosenberg he had a buyer willing to pay as much as $10,000 for the watch because it was Simpson's. But Slates argued that didn't mean Simpson was obligated to let Cook sell his watch, and the judge agreed.

Had he agreed to let Cook try to sell the watch, Slates said, Cook might have tried to go after other Simpson possessions of little value, claiming he could also sell them at a huge markup.

"We don't want to create a precedent where they can do that and we're forever faced with it," Slates said.

Simpson was acquitted in a criminal trial of the 1994 murders of Goldman's son, Ron Goldman, and Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson. After their families sued him for wrongful death, a civil court jury found him liable for the killings and ordered that he pay $33.5 million.

Most of that judgment remains unpaid, although Fred Goldman recently won the rights to Simpson's book, "If I Did It." The ghostwritten account of how Simpson could have committed the murders is a New York Times best-seller.
 
The drama continues with more testimonials in court. :hmm:


Deals in O.J. Case Could Cut Both Ways
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Mon Oct 15, 7:56 PM


LOS ANGELES - Two men who cut plea deals Monday in a Las Vegas heist that authorities say O.J. Simpson masterminded could hamper the former football star's defense, but the men's dubious backgrounds could give prosecutors problems.

The question will be whether prosecutors can build a strong enough case against Simpson on the words of his cohorts or whether the testimony will be eroded through contradictions and cross-examination targeting the unsavory background of his co-defendants.

"It's a defense lawyer's dream to cross-examine these witnesses," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor. "You can put someone up before a firing squad and the squad members can start shooting at each other."

At this point, prosecutors appear to have the upper hand. Two of Simpson's co-defendants, one a former friend, agreed to testify against him in return for drastically reduced charges.

"It's always a prosecutor's strategy to go after the little fish to get to the big fish," said lawyer Edward Miley, who represents defendant Charles Cashmore. "In this, it seems to be that O.J. Simpson is the big fish."

A lawyer for Walter Alexander, a former golf buddy of Simpson's who plans to testify against him, said he hasn't been in trouble in a decade.

But he and Cashmore have histories of run-ins with the law.

Cashmore, 40, who said he will plead guilty to being an accessory to robbery, was charged with felony theft in a 1996 embezzlement case in Provo, Utah, pleaded guilty and bargained the charge to a misdemeanor and probation.

Alexander, 46, said he will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. He was arrested in Los Angeles in 1987 for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, but the charges were dismissed because a witness refused to identify the culprit, court records show.

Charges against Simpson and three others include kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, burglary and conspiracy. A preliminary hearing for them is scheduled Nov. 8 and 9.

Cashmore and Alexander waived their right to a preliminary hearing.

Their brushes with the law will be fodder for cross-examination, as will their roles in the Sept. 13 confrontation in a Las Vegas hotel room where Simpson has said he went to retrieve items that belonged to him from a group of memorabilia peddlers.

Simpson's Las Vegas attorney, Gabriel Grasso, said he wasn't surprised that some of Simpson's co-defendants are getting reduced charges to testify against the athlete-turned-actor.

"I never thought this would be anything but an O.J. case and only O.J.," he said.

Grasso said he expects the prosecution to argue that, "In a den of thieves, you have thieves as witnesses." But he stressed, "That does not include O.J."

Some of the other men in the room had felony convictions, including Tom Riccio, the man who set up the meeting and taped it but was granted immunity and not charged. He is expected to be a key witness.

Prosecutor David Roger has not outlined his strategy and declined comment on it outside court Monday.

Defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr., who represented acquitted defendants Michael Jackson and Robert Blake in cases that turned on witness credibility, said the move by co-defendants to plead out and testify to save themselves shows the prosecution's motive is to get Simpson.

"This might feed into the idea of a setup," he said. "They set him up in the hotel room and tape recorded it and now they're setting him up in court."

Simpson's celebrity and the fact that many feel he was wrongly acquitted in 1995 of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, could weigh heavily against him and may emerge as the dominant theme in the case.

"All the others are getting a good deal and Simpson, the one without a conviction, doesn't? It's all about who he is," Mesereau said. "They probably wouldn't have brought charges if it wasn't for who he was."

Defense attorney Harland Braun, another of Blake's original attorneys, said the critical factor is whether Simpson knew anyone in the group had a gun and whether he intended for anyone to use a gun that night.

Simpson told The Associated Press he saw no guns.

"The underlying fact is he was trying to get back property he thought was his," Braun said. "He could say he was yelling at them to give him his property and didn't see any guns. It's an unusual case."
 
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