Simpson to be set free after more than eight years in prison for heist at hotel

OJ SIMPSON has been granted parole after more than eight years in prison for a Las Vegas hotel heist.

Simpson successfully made his case in a nationally televised hearing that reflected America’s enduring fascination with the former American football star.

The 70-year-old could be a free man as early as October 1.

By then he will have served the minimum of his nine to 33year armed robbery sentence for a bungled attempt to snatch sports memorabilia and other mementos he claimed had been stolen from him. He got the four votes he needed from the parole commissioners who heard his case.

In agreeing to release him, they cited his lack of a prior conviction, the low risk he might commit another crime, his community support and his release plans.

During the more than hourlong hearing, Simpson forcefully insisted – as he has all along – that he was only trying to retrieve items that belonged to him and never meant to hurt anyone. He said he never pointed a gun at anyone nor made any threats during the crime.

“I’ve done my time. I’ve done it as well and respectfully as I think anybody can,” he said.

His defenders have argued that his sentence was out of proportion to the crime and that he was being punished for the two murders he was acquitted of during his 1995 “Trial of the Century” in Los Angeles, the stabbings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.