No Bail for Simpson

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson poses a flight risk and shouldn’t be allowed out of prison while the Nevada Supreme Court decides whether to overturn his conviction in an armed hotel room heist, Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Friday.

Simpson, 61, is serving nine to 33 years for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas in 2007.

A lawyer for the former football player said Friday that if Simpson is allowed out on bail, he will "make every court appearance.”

Simpson’s lawyers appealed his sentence May 26, and later filed a request to let him post bail.


by the associated press

OJ Simpson appeals

OJ Simpson appeals Vegas armed robbery conviction
By KEN RITTER – 10 hours ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson has appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court to overturn his convictions for armed robbery and kidnapping during a a Las Vegas hotel room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers.

The appeal arrived Tuesday at the Supreme Court in Carson City.

The former football star, actor and advertising pitchman asks the high court to throw out his conviction on grounds that include judicial misconduct, insufficient evidence, a lack of racial diversity on the jury and errors in sentencing and jury instructions.

The document criticizes the trial judge, Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass, and accuses prosecutors of improperly asking questions about allegations of witness intimidation in front of the jury.

"Cumulative error ... was so egregious and prejudicial that the defense could not get a fair trial," Simpson attorneys Yale Galanter and Malcolm LaVergne wrote in seeking the reversal.

Appeals in Nevada can take more than a year. Supreme Court spokesman Bill Gang said there was no way to know when the justices might rule.

"The amount of time it takes depends on the number and complexity of the issues raised," Gang said.

Simpson, 61, maintains that he was trying to retrieve property stolen from him when he and five other men confronted the two sports collectibles peddlers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room in September 2007.

Simpson and a co-defendant were convicted last October and sentenced in December. Simpson got nine to 33 years in state prison. He is housed at a prison in Lovelock, about 90 miles east of Reno.

He was acquitted in 1995 of charges he murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. But he later was held liable for the deaths in a civil court case.



by the associated press

O.J. changes his attorney in heist case

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson has switched lawyers on the eve of his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court to reverse his conviction in an armed hotel room heist, his former attorney said Friday.

Las Vegas attorney Gabriel Grasso said he had been replaced by Malcolm Lavergne, a move he attributed to an unspecified rift with Simpson’s longtime lawyer, Yale Galanter.

Simpson, 61, is serving nine to 33 years in Lovelock State Prison, northeast of Reno, for his October conviction in kidnapping and robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in September 2007 in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Galanter said he remains in charge of the case but needs a Nevada lawyer to appear with him there.

Galanter said Simpson’s appeal will be filed with the state Supreme Court by Tuesday’s deadline.



by the associated press