Society/Culture OJ Simpson - Dead at 76

[FIGJAM]

14 years too late, but better late than never!

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oj4-2008oct04,0,1335043.story

Las Vegas jury finds O.J. Simpson guilty
The former football star is convicted on all counts, including robbery and kidnapping.
By Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 4, 2008
LAS VEGAS -- A jury convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping Friday night, 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles.

The verdict was read just before 11 p.m. after prosecutors, defense attorneys, Simpson and codefendant Clarence Stewart gathered in the downtown courthouse.



The trials of O.J. Simpson

O.J. Simpson robbery case goes to the...
Witness says O.J. Simpson associates tried to blackmail him
O.J. Simpson's defense may rest on 'the piece'

Both were convicted on all 12 counts. Defense attorneys polled the jurors, who confirmed their verdicts aloud. Simpson was handcuffed and led out of court.

The panel of nine women and three men -- none of them black -- deliberated more than 13 hours after listening to nearly three weeks of testimony. Their discussions had begun Friday morning.

The state court case here was marked by hours of secret audio recordings, alleged victims who professed to like Simpson and witnesses who tried to cash in on their ties to the former NFL star.

Prosecutors painted Simpson, 61, as masterminding the alleged robbery of two sports collectibles dealers in a hotel room last year. The Hall of Fame running back, the prosecution contended, rounded up five cohorts, told two of them to bring guns and ordered one of the armed men to brandish his weapon and "look menacing."

Simpson and Stewart, 54, were charged with a dozen crimes, including armed robbery and kidnapping, which carries a potential life sentence. Four of their former codefendants agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and testified for the prosecution.

Despite detailing an intriguing plot with colorful characters, the proceedings paled next to Simpson's months-long, televised "trial of the century" in the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The 1995 case became a cultural flash point that drew huge courthouse crowds and polarized black and white Americans.

A civil jury in 1997 found the Heisman Trophy winner liable for the deaths. The onetime actor, pitchman and sports commentator has paid little of the $33.5-million judgment.

In Las Vegas, the anticipated circus never showed up. Media coverage dwindled as the economy faltered and the presidential election ramped up. On most days, Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass' courtroom was only half-filled.

Simpson, who did not take the stand, was here in September 2007 to take part in a friend's wedding. Simpson has said he and his associates were trying to retrieve stolen mementos from collectibles dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley in the Palace Station hotel room.

"We may quibble with how it was done, what was done," said Simpson attorney Yale Galanter in his closing argument. "You may all say he didn't use common sense. But the real issue is whether he had criminal intent to commit a crime."

Prosecutors, however, say the group stole up to $100,000 in footballs, plaques and baseballs at gunpoint from the dealers, who had been tricked into thinking they were meeting a wealthy buyer.

Simpson and his associates "thought they could spin it that, 'It's all OK; it was my stuff,' " said prosecutor Chris Owens in the state's final rebuttal. That mind-set, he said, showed the football icon's "arrogance."

Simpson maintains he never saw guns during the alleged robbery or asked anyone to bring one, although nearly everyone in Room 1203 testified to seeing at least one pistol. Two men -- Michael McClinton and Walter Alexander -- told jurors they carried a .45-caliber Ruger and a .22-caliber Beretta, respectively, at Simpson's behest.

Thomas Riccio, the auctioneer who set up the meeting with the dealers, surreptitiously taped the six-minute encounter on a digital recorder hidden atop an armoire. He later sold the clip to celebrity gossip site TMZ.com for $150,000. Riccio, who was granted immunity for cooperating with prosecutors, also taped the hours surrounding the confrontation -- including Simpson denying in phone calls afterward that he saw weapons.

Jurors also heard phone calls that Simpson made from jail, a voicemail in which Alexander appeared willing to slant his testimony for money, and a secret exchange between investigators at the crime scene in which they mocked the double-murder acquittal.

"You're just picking on him because you are mad about the verdict," says one investigator.

"Yep," replies another.

The prosecution's strongest audio evidence was probably a 26-minute conversation that McClinton secretly taped shortly after the incident. At the restaurant Little Buddha, a man identified as Simpson asks whether McClinton pulled out "the piece" in the hotel hallway.

McClinton repeatedly says no. "I kept that thing in my pocket till we got inside that room," he says at one point.

Simpson sounds relieved and says he assumes security cameras were monitoring the hotel hallway.

"There ain't nothing on that video . . . ain't nothing he can see," he says. "They gonna see us going in the place. They gonna see us leaving with just the boxes."

The recordings appeared to shore up a case rife with unsympathetic victims and potentially suspect witnesses. Fromong, for example, got choked up while describing his frayed friendship with Simpson. Beardsley blamed Riccio for the altercation, suggested his recordings had been tampered with and told jurors the charges against Simpson should be dropped.

Many of Simpson's cohorts sought media interviews and book deals after the altercation -- even defense witness Tom Scotto, who testified that the self-proclaimed gunmen threatened him and tried to extort $50,000 from him or Simpson. Riccio has published a book called "Busted."

Prosecutors, said Galanter, also "gave out so many get-out-of-jail-free cards and so many probation cards in this case that they could get the witnesses to say anything."

But Dist. Atty. David Roger encouraged jurors to focus on the secret recordings and the volume of corresponding witness testimony.

At the end of his closing argument, the prosecutor displayed Simpson and Stewart's mugshots on a screen overlaid with -- in red capital letters -- the word "guilty."

 

[Andre]

Just needs someone to beat him up in prison so he needs to be fed via tube the rest of his life. Still at least ensures there's one celebrity less who'll be doing ads for the Democrats.

 

[FIGJAM]

Just needs someone to beat him up in prison so he needs to be fed via tube the rest of his life.

I'm probably happy with him just getting some time Andre!

 

[Kevin_Cat_Prime]

About time.

So is he actually going in for life?

I'm sure if he got off this one he'd make a book about it

"If I did armed robbery" by OJ Simpson.

 

[Karl Pilkington]

The man was acquitted, you people should show more respect for the American legal system..... BAHAHAHA Nup! I can't keep a straight face!

 

[Chief]

OJ dies at 76

OJ Simpson, the former American football star at the centre of a double-murder trial that gripped the world three decades ago, has died aged 76.

Simpson was acquitted in a sensational 1995 trial of murdering his former wife and her friend, but was found responsible for their deaths in a civil lawsuit and was later imprisoned for armed robbery and kidnapping.

The former NFL player, cleared by a Los Angeles jury in what the US media called "the trial of the century", died on Wednesday (local time) after living with cancer, his family posted on social media on Thursday.

OJ Simpson, American footballer accused of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, dies aged 76 - ABC News

amp.abc.net.au

 

[ellesbells]

If the coffin fits you must acquit.

 

[Chief]

Stealing that one

 

[Swan4Life]

God will ultimately judge his deeds on earth, which is the way it should be.

From a purely footballing POV, he is arguably the greatest Buffalo Bill of all time. His 2000+ yard rushing in a then 14-game season will almost certainly never be repeated.

My thoughts go out to his family. Hopefully they can all resume living normal lives.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Still adamant it was his son

 

[mcgrath_truther]

can’t believe the juice is dead.

he’ll be resting in heaven

 

[largebus]

 

[conrad_437]

At least OJ can rest easy knowing that the man who committed the murder is now dead.

 

[tandino]

I guess with his passing we will never know the truth about who really is the father of Khloe Kardashian.

 

[Chief]

I guess with his passing we will never know the truth about who really is the father of Khloe Kardashian.

He left plenty of DNA around. Easy enough to check.

 

[Cruyff14]

Good riddance. Lasted far too longer than he should have.

 

[happy_eagle]

Wonder which heinous crime he will be most known for
1. The double homicide
2. The armed robbery
3. Creating the Kardashians

 

[Gasometer]

The ESPN (?) three part documentary from a few back is a must watch. Forget anything else.

I was heading into the MCG the day of the “Chase” and Rex Hunt was describing it live on air.

Thought it might be on the big screen inside but it was ‘Voice of the Ggggggggggggggg’ instead

(How good was that compared to the garbage of today pre game)

A truly horrific crime nevertheless

 

[The Punter]

The ESPN (?) three part documentary from a few back is a must watch. Forget anything else.

I was heading into the MCG the day of the “Chase” and Rex Hunt was describing it live on air.

Thought it might be on the big screen inside but it was ‘Voice of the Ggggggggggggggg’ instead

(How good was that compared to the garbage of today pre game)

A truly horrific crime nevertheless

AFL Tables - Richmond v North Melbourne - Sat, 18-Jun-1994 2:08 PM - Match Stats

 

[happy_eagle]

The ESPN (?) three part documentary from a few back is a must watch. Forget anything else.

I was heading into the MCG the day of the “Chase” and Rex Hunt was describing it live on air.

Thought it might be on the big screen inside but it was ‘Voice of the Ggggggggggggggg’ instead

(How good was that compared to the garbage of today pre game)

A truly horrific crime nevertheless

There was another ESPN 30 for 30 called "June 17th 1994" which basically talked about everything that occurred that day. From memory the NBA finals were on, Arnold Palmer was playing his last round at the US Open. The doco is just archival footage from that day and how everything unfolded.

 

[The Punter]

There was another ESPN 30 for 30 called "June 17th 1994" which basically talked about everything that occurred that day. From memory the NBA finals were on, Arnold Palmer was playing his last round at the US Open. The doco is just archival footage from that day and how everything unfolded.

NY Rangers parade after winning the Stanley Cup
Opening match FIFA World Cup USA 1994
Ken Griffey Jr hitting for the cycle v Kansas City Royals
Arnold Palmer's last round at a US Open
Game 5 1994 NBA Finals (series was tied 2-2)

And OJ

 

[ellesbells]

can’t believe the juice is dead.

he’ll be resting in heaven

Technically he's going through his Karmic review which entails living through every moment of your life (starting from death going backwards to birth) feeling and living through every single emotion he has caused others (both good and bad) and using that as a measure to set up his next incarnation and the karmic material in that life he'll need to progress further down the path of his personal evolution.

I seriously doubt he'll feel like he's in heaven when he gets to Nicole's murder though.

 

[GoTheSwannies]

There was another ESPN 30 for 30 called "June 17th 1994" which basically talked about everything that occurred that day. From memory the NBA finals were on, Arnold Palmer was playing his last round at the US Open. The doco is just archival footage from that day and how everything unfolded.

Apparently David hasslehoff had a pay-per-view concert scheduled at the same the OJ chase was on and it was meant to take his singing career to new heights.

Rumour has it the Hoff's singing career wasn't the only thing OJ butchered in 94.

 

[Freomaniac]

Wonder which heinous crime he will be most known for
1. The double homicide
2. The armed robbery
3. Creating the Kardashians

All 3 are bloody nasty.


Keys , Xtreme thoughts?

 

[Freomaniac]

There was another ESPN 30 for 30 called "June 17th 1994" which basically talked about everything that occurred that day. From memory the NBA finals were on, Arnold Palmer was playing his last round at the US Open. The doco is just archival footage from that day and how everything unfolded.

Good bloody times