O.J. gets July 20 parole hearing date in Nevada
Imprisoned former football star O.J. Simpson has a July 20 parole hearing that could have him released from a Nevada prison on Oct. 1, a state parole official said Tuesday.
Simpson, now 70, has served more than eight years of a nineto-33 year sentence imposed after he was found guilty in 2008 of armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges stemming from a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at in a Las Vegas casino hotel room in September 2007.
Simpson is due to appear by videoconference from Lovelock Correctional Center, where he is being held, before a panel of four parole commissioners sitting in Carson City, parole official David Smith said.
Simpson’s attorney in Las Vegas, Malcolm LaVergne, said he will be with his client at the medium-security prison in a small town 90 miles northeast of Reno.
“If he’s able to get parole, my prediction is he’s going to want to live a quiet life,” LaVergne said in a recent interview. LaVergne declined additional comment until after the proceeding.
One of Simpson’s trial lawyers, Yale Galanter, said Tuesday he hasn’t been in contact with Simpson since Simpson lost a bid for a new trial in 2013 based on a claim that Galanter botched his defence.
“From everything I hear, he’s been a model prisoner,” Galanter said. “I hope it all works out and he’s released.”
Simpson’s other trial lawyer, Gabriel Grasso, declined to comment.
Simpson has been to the parole board before. In July 2013, he told commissioners he regretted the encounter with the collectibles dealers in Las Vegas and said he had apologized to them.
He said he kept a promise to prison officials to set an example for other inmates, whom he said he mentored and counselled when they came to him with issues.
The board noted Simpson had no disciplinary actions during his incarceration and was deemed a low risk for repeat offences. It granted Simpson parole on some convictions, leaving him with least four more years before his minimum nine-year sentence was reached.