OJ Simpson back in court over alleged robbery
OJ to make court appearance over kidnapping and robbery charges
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Monday, 08, Sep 2008 12:01
OJ Simpson is to make a fresh appearance in court over kidnapping and robbery charges.
Simpson, who was acquitted of the murders of his former wife and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995, will now face a jury over an incident at the Palace Station Casino in Las Vegas in September 2007 and could receive a life sentence
The former NFL star and actor, real name Orenthal J Simpson, and his co-defendant Clarence 'CJ' Stewart pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, coercion and conspiracy charges on November 28th last year.
Four of the men who accompanied Simpson, 61, to the casino hotel room - Charles Cashmore, Walter 'Goldie' Alexander, Michael 'Spencer' McClinton and Charles Ehrlich - have pleaded guilty to lesser charges and are to testify against Simpson.
The retired sports star, whose previous court case raised questions about the US justice system, is accused of robbing memorabilia from two sports dealers in a hotel room in the US gambling city.
Simpson claims that he was only trying to recover goods stolen from him when he and five others confronted merchants Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.
Jerry Reisman, a lawyer who represented Simpson on business matters prior to his murder trial, believes jury selection could be a lengthy process, due to the general public's views of the one-time Naked Gun star.
"I think the public is going to see and hear what they want to and hope that he is convicted," he told the Associated Press news agency.
"It's going to be difficult for OJ to get a fair trial. A lot of the public believes he was guilty of the crimes he was charged with back then and he got away with it."
And former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson, who reported on the 1995 trial for CBS News, said: "Nothing about an OJ case is a normal case, because it's OJ.
"A guy who can get off of a double homicide with DNA evidence is not a normal defendant. There's going to be some pressure to vindicate the judicial system in this case."