OJ Simpson freed on parole after serving nine years behind bars
DISGRACED American football star OJ Simpson, whose racially charged 1995 murder trial riveted the nation, was released from jail on parole early yesterday after nine years behind bars for armed robbery.
Simpson, 70, left the Lovelock Correctional Centre in the western state of Nevada just after midnight, prison spokeswoman Brooke Keast said.
“I don’t know where he was headed,” Keast said. Simpson was granted parole at a hearing in July and his earliest release date was set for October 1, but he had widely been expected to be freed no earlier than Monday.
Why the early release? “To ensure public safety and avoid a possible incident,” Keast said, commenting on Simpson’s release at eight minutes past midnight.
Simpson planned to relocate to Florida following his release from the medium-security prison where he had been serving his sentence, his lawyer, Malcolm LaVergne, said.
Simpson was found not guilty in 1995 of the grisly murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a friend, Ron Goldman, in a case that transfixed the country and became known as the “trial of the century”.
But the former National Football League running back and actor was sent to prison in 2008 for his role in an armed robbery the previous year of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas resort. Simpson claimed at his trial that he was just seeking to recover personal items from the dealers.
He repeated that explanation at his parole board hearing in July, where the four-member panel voted unanimously for his release.
At that hearing, Simpson initially did not express any remorse for his actions but eventually offered that he was sorry that things turned out the way they did.
“I had no intent to commit a crime,” he said.
“If I would have made a better judgment back then, none of this would have happened.”
LaVergne said Simpson planned to move to Florida, play golf and be around his friends and family.
“He’s had a perfect performance as a prisoner,” LaVergne said.
“I anticipate he’s going to have a perfect performance as a parolee.”
At the hearing, Simpson said he was “at a point in my life where all I want to do is spend time with my children and my friends”.
"Believe it or not, I do have some real friends,“he said.
Simpson was convicted in October 2008 of armed robbery, assault, kidnapping and other offences after he and five associates ambushed the two dealers in a casino hotel room.
He was sentenced to a minimum of nine years in prison and a maximum of 33 years.