Former football star, actor, and murder suspect O.J. Simpson was back in the slammer again after his arraignment on a number of criminal indictments, including burglary, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and just plain nastiness. In fact, Simpson was literally “caught in the act” this time, by video cameras at a Los Vegas hotel and casino who Simpson and two other men are accused of trying to ‘acquire’ some valuable sports memorabilia, the kind of stuff that would sell really well on internet sites like Ebay.
What really makes things appear to be going badly for the ex-college and pro football star is that he was originally denied bail; situation that usually only happens in very severe crimes, including Capital crimes like murder. The reason for not granting bail stems from fear that Simpson my try to “jump bail” and escape. After some careful maneuvering by his trusted attorney, O.J. was finally released on $150,000 bail, and immediately left for his home in Miami Florida. His “exit” from police custody was filmed and is almost as interesting as when he was being chased by half of the LAPD following his indictment for murdering his ex-wife, Nicole, and her boyfriend, Ron Goldman.
After managing to extricate himself from the double murder rap involving his ex-wife, and her boyfriend, O.J. was sued by the victim’s families and wound up having to pay them nearly 33.5 million dollars in compensation. He declared bankruptcy to protect what little assets he had left following his paying off his high priced legal team for both trials. His fortunes seemed to go from bad to worse afterwards, and when he wrote and published a book called “If I Did It” dealing with his supposed role in the double homicide, the victim’s families were able to secure an injunction preventing Simpson from realizing any royalty profits from the sale of his book, and they would have ownership rights to all revenues generated from its sale. The book has been renamed: If I Did It: Confessions of a Killer.
Perhaps his financial dilemmas made him so desperate that he tried to pull of this Vegas heist, with all its implications. The LVPD didn’t give him any ‘respect’ however, and they along with possibly thousands of others would no doubt like to see Simpson put behind bars for a long time, if not for life. Simpson claims that the sports items were stolen from him and he was simply getting them back. His story appears to be a bit ‘sketchy’ as the guns used in the alleged robbery were said to have been recovered, and his accomplices are said to belong to the “Los Vegas Community” (the mob) with whom Simpson is rumored to have “connections”.
When interviewed Sunday by CNN talk show host Larry King, Kim Goldberg, Ron Goldberg’s brother, said that this indictment “at least partially vindicates my bother’s death by this person”.
Speculation as to why Simpson was with a group of four armed men is making the case against him even more complicated. The “sports memorabilia”, connected with O.J.’s own college and professional sports career, including a purple jersey from Southern Cal University, his alma mater, tightens an already taught legal ‘noose’ about his neck. Ron Goldman’s family have requested custody of these items as their sale would be partial compensation for the amount that Simpson still owes them. Due to his declaring bankruptcy, almost all of the settlement award money is still unpaid. Simpson’s new legal predicament will give talk show hosts like Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, and David letterman fresh new “material” to use in their nightly warm-up monologues. There is also speculation that Simpson may actually have been “set up” by persons acting on behalf of the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Being framed, seemed to be one of the more logical possibilities, as a lot of people want to nail this guy.
According to U.S. jurisprudence, Simpson cannot be retried for the murders of his ex-wife and Goldman. If convicted of these new crimes, O.J. could face a prison term of ten years to life imprisonment. At least in this respect, the Brown and Goldman families may finally receive their ‘pound of flesh’.
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