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OJ Simpson guilty in kidnap, robbery
OJ Simpson, the former football star who was famously cleared of murder in the 1990s "Trial of the Century," was convicted on all charges in his Las Vegas kidnapping and robbery trial.
OJ Simpson, the former football star who was famously cleared of murder in the 1990s "Trial of the Century," was convicted on all charges in his Las Vegas kidnapping and robbery trial on Friday.
Simpson, who was convicted along with co-defendant Clarence "CJ" Stewart on the 13th anniversary of his controversial 1995 acquittal, was ordered jailed by Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass immediately after the verdict.
The former star athlete turned actor and television pitchman appeared resigned as the verdict was read, but winced as he was handcuffed. Family members wept in the courtroom gallery as Simpson was led away.
Simpson and Stewart face sentences of up to life in prison when they are sentenced on Dec 9.
Prosecutors said at trial that Simpson, 61, and five associates stormed into a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino in September 2007, brandishing guns, and took thousands of dollars in memorabilia from a pair of sports collectors.
Defense lawyers argued that Simpson went to the hotel only to retrieve personal mementos that were stolen from him and that he was unaware that his sidekicks were armed.
Four of the other men originally charged in the case have agreed to plead guilty and all took the witness stand for the prosecution during nearly three weeks of trial testimony that concluded on Wednesday.
Neither Simpson nor Stewart, 54, testified in their own defense.
Simpson was charged in the June 12, 1994, stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, but was cleared at the end of a yearlong trial that transfixed much of the world.
A civil court jury later found Simpson responsible in a wrongful death suit and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the victims' families, a judgment that remains largely unpaid.
