LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson was back in a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday to ask for a new trial in the armed robbery-kidnapping case that sent him to prison in 2008.
The former football hero and a new set of lawyers hope to convince a judge during the hearing that trial lawyer Yale Galanter had conflicted interests and shouldn't have handled Simpson's case.
Simpson appeared in court wearing a blue jail uniform. His hair was short and grayer than it was during a previous court appearance in 2008.
He entered the courtroom in handcuffs, flanked by guards and nodded and raised his eyebrows to acknowledge people he recognized in the second row.
A marshal had warned people in the audience not to try to communicate with Simpson. No words were exchanged.
Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison. He's due to testify Wednesday.
Galanter is scheduled to testify Friday. He is declining comment before then.
Simpson says that Galanter knew ahead of time about his plan to retrieve what he thought were personal mementoes from two sports memorabilia dealers at a casino hotel room in September 2007.
Simpson also said his lawyer never told him a plea deal was on the table.
Galanter was paid nearly $700,000 for Simpson's defense but had a personal interest in preventing himself from being identified as a witness to the crimes and misled Simpson so much that the former football star deserves a new trial, lawyers for Simpson claim.
"To me, the claims are solid. I don't know how the court can't grant relief," said Patricia Palm, the Simpson appeals lawyer who produced a 94-page petition dissecting Galanter's promises, payments and performance in the trial that ended with a jury finding Simpson and a co-defendant guilty of 12 felonies.
Of the 22 allegations of conflict-of-interest and ineffective counsel that Palm raised, Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell has agreed to hear 19.
The five-day proceedings are technically neither a trial nor appeal. There won't be any opening statements. The judge will listen to testimony before deciding whether Simpson deserves a new trial. It's not clear whether Bell will rule immediately.
Whatever one thinks of OJ, the claims are serious.
Not telling one's client that the prosecution has offered a plea bargain -- how is that not failing to give one's client competent advice?
Concealing from the court the fact that one is a material witness -- how is that not giving one's client unbiased advice?
Whatever the bearing those facts, if such they be, may have had on OJ's Nevada trial -- and I think that, depending on other facts which have not yet been determined, that bearing may well have been substantial -- the attorney should be facing disciplinary action.
Reason is valuable only when it performs against the wordless physical background of the universe.
I didn't think he did that badly, (except for launching into an overly detailed blow-by-blow of the whole sequence of events) but the legal analysts are all saying he did a terrible job, and may even have screwed-up what was widely expected to be a positive parole decision.
I can see how, applying the standards they were required to apply, the board reached the decision it did...
The saga of OJ Simpson ever since he murdered his wife and Ron Goldman has been a story where "the law" and "the just" have frequently been at odds, and this is yet one more example...
And put his scrapbook back together with plenty of articles and photos available of the odd mix of world record holder in the 440-yard relay and Heisman winner from the sports era, the acting and commenting era, and that murder and robbery era.
"As soon as next October, OJ will be a free man." CBS evening news tv opening.
Are there no American news readers with a basic knowledge of how things work? OJ will be on PAROLE. He will not be a free man. If he breaks his parole he will be back in that Nevada prison. The various activities that violate parole are far from criminal. It all depends on fine print, but staying out of bars is not an unusual requirement. Also common is severe limit on travel. He will not be a free man.
At long last, The Search For The Real Killers can resume:
O.J. Simpson walks out of Nevada prison after 9 years
(CNN)O.J. Simpson walked out of prison early Sunday after serving nine years for a Las Vegas armed robbery and kidnapping.
The former NFL star left prison shortly after midnight local time, and was picked up by a friend, according to Brooke Keast , a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections.
"I told him, 'don't 'come back,' and he responded, 'I don't intend to, '" she said. "He was upbeat, personable and seemed happy to get on with his life."
Simpson, 70, was freed in the middle of the night to give him privacy.
"Our biggest concern was our safety and the public's safety and not wanting anybody, paparazzi, to follow him," Keast said. "He left through a big blue door through the front gatehouse and exited quietly. He looked down because he didn't want to be photographed."
After he was granted parole, the Nevada Department of Corrections took extra measures to protect him. Guards moved him to a single cell away from the rest of the prison population.
"The last thing we want is some prisoner trying to make a name for himself by attacking Simpson," Keast said.[Yeah, that would have been an awful tragedy...]
While out of prison, Simpson won't have the liberty to consume alcohol in large quantities or hang out with ex-convicts.[That's good; we wouldn't want OJ hanging around with people who could be a bad influence on him]The Nevada Board of Parole forbids parolees from associating with convicted felons and people who engage in criminal activity, or possessing guns and drugs. Alcohol abuse can get a parolee hauled back to prison.
"You are permitted to consume alcoholic beverages but not to excess," the conditions of parole supervision read.
"You shall submit to a medically recognized test for blood/breath content. Test results of .08 alcohol or higher shall be sufficient proof of excess."[Maybe somebody can take him out, get him loaded, and call the cops...]
