Finally Squeezed: OJ Simpson Guilty of Robbery in Vegas

OJ Simpson and an associated were found guilty by a jury in a robbery case in Las Vegas. There was no dream team of lawyers that could get him out of trouble this time. He was seen on video and the witnesses were overwhelming and damning.

O.J. Simpson was found guilty late Friday on all 12 counts stemming from a confrontation in a hotel room last year, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

The verdict, which comes 13 years to the day after Mr. Simpson was acquitted in the highly publicized murders of his ex-wife and her friend, concluded a four-week trial that many have seen as a proxy for those unsatisfied by that 1995 outcome.

Mr. Simpson now faces 15 years to life for the kidnapping charge as well as a minimum of at least another 10 years in prison on the other charges. His attorney, Yale Galanter, said he would appeal.

The charges arose from an incident at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino in Vegas when Simpson led five associates into a room to collect hundreds of pieces of sports memorabilia, many of which related to Simpson directly. The room, and its contents, were in the possession of Bruce L. Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, who had been expecting that a prospective buyer was coming to browse the goods.

During the incident, several witnesses claimed that a gun was brandished.

Expect the makeup of the jury to be among the issues on appeal as no African-Americans were on the panel of 9 women and 3 men. He's hoping to claim that the jury was racially motivated. Sure. Let's just ignore the evidence that he committed this crime and blame it on the jury's racial makeup. The other defendant, Clarence Stewart, 54, was found guilty on all charges, but he actually has a stronger case on appeal since the judge repeatedly denied his attorney's requests to sever his case from Simpson's as Simpson's presence was harmful to Stewart's defense as prejudicial.

UPDATE:
Video of the verdict:


O.J. GUILTY ON ALL 12 COUNTS - video powered by Metacafe via Hot Air.

Squeezed

OJ Simpson's legal woes are about to get a whole lot worse as another co-defendant just rolled on him.

A second co-defendant in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case has agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge. Walter Alexander also said he will testify against O.J. Simpson and others in the armed robbery case.

Pun-able

It's been quite a while since any of us has ever seen a grouping of news stories that can provide headlines so ripe for punning.

Norman Hsu - who's nefarious activities and criminality span the coasts. He's accused of running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors of $60 million, bundling millions of dollars for Democrats, including Hillary, Biden, Obama, the DSCC, and dozens of other Democrats across the country, and was a fugitive in California for leaving the country to avoid sentencing on a grand theft conviction.

Dan Rather - he's back in the news. Actually, he's the news as he's filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS over the Ra^thergate mess and he and his lawyers still think that those bogus documents are fake but accurate.

Last, but not least, is the mother of all media salivations:

OJ Simpson.

Is this a great country or what?

Squeezing the Juice

Las Vegas authorities have charged OJ Simpson with 11 counts, which could bring a life sentence in prison if convicted of the charges.

I'm sure everyone has seen or heard the video of the alleged incident whereby OJ and his cronies entered a hotel room and began making demands of the occupants to give items to OJ and his cohorts. It sure sounds like a shakedown. Those people were being held against their will, and were definitely being threatened.

If you didn't know better, you'd think that it was OJ Simpson's attempt to land a role in Pulp Fiction.

The Clark County DA has now charged Simpson and three co-defendants with a total of 11 criminal counts that include conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, and coercion with use of a deadly weapon.

Simpson is set to be arraigned today for his role in Thursday's alleged armed robbery of two sports-memorabilia collectors who had items The Juice claimed were his.

Cops reeled in the last of Simpson's co-defendants - Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas - yesterday, shortly after they released his photo.

Co-defendants Walter Alexander and Clarence Stewart have already been arrested. Alexander was released without bond, while Stewart posted $78,000 bail.

Stewart's lawyer, Rob Lucherini, said of his client, "He didn't have a gun, he didn't know there was a gun."

It's also being suggested that one of the other defendants is ready to cut a deal, which means that OJ's legal troubles are about to get a whole lot worse. If others turn on OJ, it will not bode well.

TMZ is reporting that OJ and his crew may have impersonated cops. Nice. It wasn't included in the list of charges, but if the evidence warrants additional charges, I'm sure that the Las Vegas prosecutors will add it to the mix.

The actual complaint can be found here. He will be arraigned today. Expect a circus environment.

UPDATE:
The judge has ruled that OJ can be released on $125,000 bail and ordered that Simpson to surrender his passport. Will that be sufficient for him to remain within the reach of the Las Vegas authorities? Time will tell. It wouldn't be a good idea for OJ to retrace the White Bronco chase, that's for sure. Still, I'm sure that the media would love to see that happen. For the media, that would be a ratings goldmine. In fact, I think bloggers wouldn't mind some kind of craziness to happen with OJ either.

The Juice Is Squeezed in Vegas

OJ Simpson is being investigated in relation to a robbery at a Las Vegas casino - although it is possible he was reclaiming items that were originally his.

Las Vegas police confirmed early Friday morning that O.J. Simpson has been questioned after someone alleged that he was involved in a theft at Palace Station casino.

The person alleged that sports memorabilia had been stolen, but neither Simpson nor several others who were questioned have been arrested or charged in connection with the incident, said police spokesman Jose Montoya.

FOX5 News has interviewed a man, Thomas Riccio, who claims to have witnessed the incident which sparked the allegations. Riccio said he works for Universal Rarities, an auction house based in California, and that a customer had contacted him about one month and claimed to have "personal possessions" that had belonged to O.J. Simpson. The customer claimed to have confiscated the items from Simpson because Simpson owed them money, Riccio told FOX5 News.

Riccio said he had met O.J. Simpson previously and contacted him about the items. "He had said that it was stolen from him," Riccio said.

Riccio said he met with the potential customer Thursday night in a Palace Station hotel room. While surveying the items, Riccio said Simpson entered the room with several others and reclaimed the items in question. While someone reported the act as a theft, Riccio implied that Simpson believed the items were rightfully his own. Simpson did not use force when entering the room and was unarmed, and never acted violently during the ordeal, Riccio said.

The primary reason OJ Simpson was found not guilty for the murder of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown was Johnnie Cochran's legal wizardry and the famous line: "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit." That's precisely what the jury did.

Johnnie Cochran passed away in 2005.

While OJ hasn't been arrested as yet, the situation is certainly murky. Simpson claims that the items were stolen from him and he simply reclaimed them. Law enforcement will have to sort things out and will have to determine whether the items in question were in the rightful possession of the other person and whether Simpson was within his rights.