Skip to footer

O.J. Simpson in court to seek retrial for armed robbery conviction

O.J. Simpson in court: Former NFL star O.J. Simpson returns to a Las Vegas court Monday to seek a retrial in his conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping. Simpson is currently serving a 33-year sentence.

|
(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, Pool, File)
O.J. Simpson during his 2008 sentencing in Las Vegas. Simpson is heading back to the Las Vegas courthouse where he was convicted of leading five men in an armed sports memorabilia heist to ask a judge for a new trial.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Las Vegas

Former U.S. football star and film actor O.J. Simpson is going back to court for the first time since he was sentenced to prison, hoping to be granted an appeal of his conviction and sentence of up to 33 years.

On Monday, Simpson intends to argue that his lawyer at the trial in 2008 for armed robbery and kidnapping had a conflict of interest and gave bad advice. Simpson and a co-defendant were convicted of 12 felonies.

Simpson is now represented by Patricia Palm, who contends claims against John Galanter, Simpson's former lawyer, "are solid."

Galanter is due to testify at the new hearing and has declined to comment on the case.

Simpson now says that Galanter knew ahead of time about Simpson's plan to retrieve what he thought were personal mementoes, and that the lawyer met Simpson in Las Vegas to discuss the plan the night before the athlete and five other men confronted two sports memorabilia dealers and a middleman in a casino hotel room in September 2007.

Simpson still says he had no idea two of the men were carrying guns.

Simpson claims he sought to retrieve what he thought were family photos and personal belongings stolen after his 1995 acquittal in the slayings of his wife and her friend in Los Angeles.

Galanter blessed the plan as within the law, as long as no one trespassed and no force was used, Simpson said.

During the trial, Simpson contends Galanter "vigorously discouraged" him from testifying, and never told him that prosecutors were willing to let him plead guilty to charges with a minimum sentence of two years.

"He consistently told me the state could not prove its case because I acted within my rights in retaking my own property," Simpson said in a sworn statement outlining what he plans to say in court this week.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to O.J. Simpson in court to seek retrial for armed robbery conviction
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0513/O.J.-Simpson-in-court-to-seek-retrial-for-armed-robbery-conviction
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe