Could O.J. Simpson get out of a Nevada prison while he appeals his armed robber and kidnapping convictions? Simpson attorney, Yale Galanter, says that if anybody deserves bond it’s his client because “he’s got nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.” The 62-year-old Simpson, whose 1994 acquittal in the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, widened the racial gulf in America, is serving up to 33 years in prison after a jury convicted him of masterminding and perpetrating a hotel room robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. The NFL Hall of Famer, Heisman Trophy winner,  former sportscaster and actor, who is serving his time at Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada, will be eligible for parole in 2017. Because of the length of the sentence, the three judges pondering the bail request seemed reluctant to grant it. “Considering the term of Simpson’s sentence, combined with his current age, Simpson is realistically looking at a possible life sentence,” Clark County Dist. Atty. David Roger said in court briefs. “Therefore, a flight to avoid a lengthy sentence has to be considered tempting.” The judges also stated that the violent nature of the crime makes granting bail tougher. Simpson’s appeal centers on claims that the trial judge, Jackie Glass, made several egregious mistakes, for example blocking the defense from fully questioning potential jurors and witnesses, and that the mostly White jury lacked diversity.

O.J. Simpson’s lawyers are asking the Nevada Supreme Court to toss out the former football star’s conviction, saying that the judge who slapped him with what amounts to a life sentence was prejudiced and made several improper rulings during last year’s trial. In their 47-page appeal, Simpson’s attorneys argue that Clark County, Nev., District Judge Jackie Glass exercised a “cumulative error that was so egregious and prejudicial that the defense could not get a fair trial.” Read more.

Fallen football star Michael Vick is pitching a reality TV show to producers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently, Vick, who is serving the remainder of 23-month prison sentence for charges stemming from illegal dogfighting, has talked to producers about launching an unscripted documentary series beginning July 20, the day of his scheduled release from federal custody, and show him trying to “make amends for his past.” Read the rest. 

Angry Hulk Hogan Says He Understands O.J

Hulk Hogan, pro wrestler and reality TV star, told Rolling Stone magazine recently that he can “totally understand” why O.J. Simpson probably murdered his wife. “I could have turned everything into a crime scene like O.J., cutting everybody’s throat,” Hogan said in the interview. “You live half a mile from the 20,000-square-foot home you can’t go to anymore, you’re driving through downtown Clearwater [Florida] and see a 19-year-old boy driving your Escalade, and you know that a 19-year-old boy is sleeping in your bed, with your wife… .”I totally understand O.J. I get it,” Hogan said, according to CNN. Read more.

When O.J. Simpson was ordered to serve time in prison on Friday for robbing some memorabilia dealers in a hotel here in Las Vegas, the family of the brutal slaying for which the fallen football and TV star was accused but acquitted breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Kim Goldman, who with her father, Fred, has relentlessly pursued justice for Simpson since his acquittal in the 1994 slaying of her brother Ron Goldman. While the two crimes were not related, the Goldmans said she was just glad to see that Simpson would finally be behind bars. “I don’t think I ever thought that in my lifetime I would see him sentenced in a courtroom,” she said. Simpson, 61, is awaiting his assignment from the Clark County jail to a Nevada prison to serve his sentence of at least nine years without parole for his conviction on kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges stemming from a confrontation with sports collectors in an off-the-Strip casino hotel in 2007. Simpson’s lawyers, while calling the former NFL giant’s actions “stupid,” said his actions didn’t “rise to the level of criminality that would warrant a long prison sentence.”

If O.J. had pleaded, his sentence would’ve been less stiff. Hall of Fame athlete and disgraced American hero O.J. Simpson could’ve probably done better than the 9- to 33-year sentence he received on Friday, a prosecutor says. A plea bargain in the Las Vegas case that found him accused of kidnapping, armed robbery and other felonies may have ensured that Simpson didn’t die in prison, says the Clark County official. Simpson was sentenced after standing trial on charges that he and several men bumrushed a Nevada hotel room and took valuable memorabilia from Simpson’s sports career from two collectors. Simpson has maintained that the souvenirs and family keepsakes were stolen from him and that he only took back his belongings. But a jury convicted both him and Clarence Stewart after several others accepted pleas. “What we have is satisfaction that this monster is where he belongs – behind bars,” says Fred Goldman, father of the man Simpson was acquitted of murdering in 1994.

Former football star O.J. Simpson was sentenced by a Nevada judge to at least 15 years in prison today for his role in a botched attempt to retrieve sports memorabilia. Simpson, along with his co-defendant and friend Clarence “CJ” Stewart (who received the same sentence), were convicted back in October on 12 charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery. During his sentencing, Simpson, dressed in a blue prison uniform, addressed the court, defending his actions. “I did not mean to hurt anyone, I did not mean to steal anything, just my own stuff,” he said holding back tears. “I just wanted my personal things back.” Prosecutors had argued, though, that Simpson spearheaded the robbery and got the guns. He will not be eligible for parole for at least eight years and he can’t be freed on bail during his appeal, Judge Jackie Glass of Clark County District Court also ruled.

Judge rules no new trial for O.J. O.J. Simpson failed to win a new trial Friday from the judge who oversaw his conviction in the gunpoint robbery of two Las Vegas sports memorabilia dealers. Judge Jackie Glass said the issues raised by lawyers for Simpson and co-defendant Clarence Stewart were insufficient grounds for a retrial. The former American football star was found guilty of holding up two sports memorabilia dealers in a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino in Las Vegas before stealing items from them on Sept. 13 last year. Glass acknowledged during a hearing that the ruling paved the way for Simpson and Stewart to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. Simpson and Stewart were convicted of 12 charges last month, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and they face up to life in prison when sentenced in December. A jury of nine women and three men unanimously found Simpson guilty of all 12 charges after more than 13 hours of deliberations, 13 years after he was cleared of a double murder. Stewart’s lawyer, Brent Bryson, said the jury foreman was guilty of misconduct, quoting the foreman as saying he thought Simpson should have been given a life sentence in the Los Angeles case. 

When questioned during jury selection, all 12 of the non-Blacks who were eventually chosen as jurors said they would give O.J. Simpson a fair trial, but the fact that at least five of them said they believed the former football legend had gotten away with murder 13 years ago is enough to make you wonder. Read the rest here.