Oct 4, 2008 11:08 pm US/Eastern
GUILTY
Former Football Star Could Spend Life In Prison
LAS VEGAS (AP) ―
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O.J. Simpson sits with attorney Yale Galanter during his trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center Sept. 17, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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O.J. Simpson has been found guilty on all charges in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room more than a year ago.
The 61-year-old former football faces up to life in prison. A somber Simpson released a heavy sigh as the charges were read Friday in Clark County District Court. He was immediately taken into custody.
"He's, you know, extremely upset, extremely emotional," defense attorney Yale Galanter said. "But it was something that was expected."
The verdict comes 13 years to the day after Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.
Co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart also was found guilty on all charges and taken into custody. The men were tried on 12 criminal charges.
After working late into the night, the mostly white, female jury found Simpson and a co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart guilty of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a casino hotel room. The jury reached a decision after deliberating for more than 13 hours.
"We knew this was going to be very difficult," Galanter said. "We knew the jury was going to be difficult, we knew the jurisdiction was going to be difficult."
Simpson, 61, and a golfing buddy, Stewart, 54, each face five years to life in prson when sentenced. They could also face mandatory prison time if convicted of armed robbery. They had pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including conspiracy, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon.
Deliberations began 13 years to the day after Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.
The jury sent one note to the judge around 3 p.m. with what the court spokesman called a "procedural question."
Judge Jackie Glass responded with instructions to look at documents they had already been given, Sommermeyer said.
The jury of nine women and three men heard 12 days of testimony, capped by prosecutors' arguments Thursday that the Las Vegas case had its roots in the 1994 slayings.
Prosecutors alleged Simpson planned-and Stewart helped carry out-a plot to retrieve personal items that Simpson lost after squirreling them away to avoid turning them over to Goldman's family to satisfy part of a $33.5 million civil wrongful death judgment levied in 1997 by a California court.
Four men who accompanied Simpson, Stewart and a middle man to the Palace Station casino hotel for the Sept. 13, 2007, confrontation later pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution. Thomas Riccio, the man who arranged and secretly recorded the meeting, testified under immunity from prosecution.
Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, told the jury the prosecution didn't prove Simpson was guilty in the criminal case that he said "has taken on a life of its own because of Mr. Simpson's involvement."
"Every cooperator, every person who had a gun, every person who had an ulterior motive, every person who signed a book deal, every person who got paid money-the police, the district attorney's office, is only interested in one thing: Mr. Simpson," Galanter said.
Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson, presented his client as the trial's forgotten man.
Since Sept. 15, the jury heard 22 often colorful witnesses-including seven of the nine people who were in the cramped hotel room. They listened to numerous replays of secret recordings made before, during and after the alleged robbery.
Neither Simpson nor Stewart testified, and jurors were instructed not to consider that when judging the case.
Glass kept a tight rein on the proceedings and rejected several mistrial motions. She read 41 legal instructions to the jurors and six alternates before the panel heard closing arguments.
Late Saturday night, jury questionnaires showed that five of the 12 jurors disagreed with Simpson's acquittal in that case.
That's something OJ's defense team plans to raise on appeal.
"All I'm saying is that we have some significant legal issues on appeal," Galanter said. "Obviously jury selection is going to be one of them.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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