The Scotsman

Fallen star OJ Simpson becomes a free man after nine years in jail

● Former sport and TV star faces restrictio­ns during release on parole

- By KEN RITTER

O.J. Simpson became a free man yesterday – nine years after a botched hotel room heist in Las Vegas.

He was released just after midnight from Lovelock Correction­al Center in northern Nevada.

State prisons spokeswoma­n Brooke Keast released video footage of Simpson being told to “come on out” by a prison staffer, exiting through an open door.

He could be seen responding “OK” as he left, wearing a ball cap, denim jacket, jeans and white trainers.

Tom Scotto, a close Simpson friend who lives in Florida, is understood to be with Simpson following his release just minutes into the first day a parole board set for his possible release.

Simpson has said he wanted to move back to florida, where he lived before his armed robbery conviction in Las Vegas in September 2007 after a confrontat­ion with two sports memorabili­a dealers.

Ms Keast said the dead-ofnight release from the prison about 90 miles east of Reno, Nevada, was conducted to avoid media attention.

She said: “We needed to do this to ensure public safety and to avoid any possible incident.”

Simpson, 70, gains his freedom after being granted parole at a hearing in July. Unlike the last time he went free, 22 years ago, he will face restrictio­ns – up to five years of parole supervisio­n – and is unlikely to escape public scrutiny as the man who morphed from star into suspected killer and convicted armed robber.

Simpson was looking forward to reuniting with his family, eating a steak and some seafood and moving back to Florida, his friends had recently said.

Simpson also plans to get an iphone and get reacquaint­ed with technology that was in its infancy when he was sent to prison in 2008, his attorney said.

The Florida Department of Correction­s, however, said officials had not received a transfer request or required documents.

“The spectre of his residing in comfort in Florida should not be an option,” Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal.”

Simpson lost his home near Miami to foreclosur­e in 2012. But two of his children, Justin and Sydney, also live in Florida. He could live at least temporaril­y in Las Vegas, where a friend let Simpson use his home for five weeks during his robbery trial.

His five years of parole supervisio­n could be reduced with credits for good behaviour.

It’s a new chapter for the onetime pop culture phenomenon whose fame was once again on display when the major TV networks carried his parole hearing live.

He told officials leading a group of men into a 2007 armed confrontat­ion was an error in judgment he would not repeat.

He told the parole board that he led a “conflict-free life,” – an assertion that angered many who believe “he got away with” killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles in 1994.

Simpson was once an electrifyi­ng American football running back dubbed “Juice” who won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best college football player for USC in 1968 and became one of the NFL’S all-time greats with the Buffalo Bills.

He also provided commentary on “Monday Night Football,” became the face of Hertz rental-car commercial­s and built a movie career with roles in the Naked Gun comedies and other films.

His murder trial became a live-tv sensation that fascinated viewers. A jury swiftly acquitted him, but two years later, he was found liable in civil court for the killings and ordered to pay US $33.5 million to survivors.

 ?? PICTURE: AP ?? 0 O.J. Simpson signs documents at the Lovelock Correction­al Center in Nevada before his release
PICTURE: AP 0 O.J. Simpson signs documents at the Lovelock Correction­al Center in Nevada before his release
 ??  ?? 0 O.J. Simpson was granted parole during a hearing in July
0 O.J. Simpson was granted parole during a hearing in July

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