Ex-football star Simpson freed after 9 years
Ex-football star released early in morning, stays out of spotlight
Nevada prison officials have released ex-NFL star O.J. Simpson on parole after he served nine years for a botched Las Vegas heist.
LAS VEGAS — Officials at a remote Nevada prison where O.J. Simpson was set free early Sunday after nine years for armed robbery arranged the former football and Hollywood star’s deadof-night departure to avoid public scrutiny.
Simpson signed release paperwork just before midnight and disappeared into the darkness minutes into the first day he was eligible for release. Simpson was neither heard from nor seen publicly as the day wore on — apparently taking the advice of people in his inner circle that he avoid the spotlight.
Simpson was released at 12:08 a.m. PDT from Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada, state prisons spokeswoman Brooke Keast said. She said she didn’t know the name of the driver who met him and took him to an undisclosed location.
Staying put for now
A Nevada parole official said Simpson plans to live in the Las Vegas area for the foreseeable future.
State Parole and Probation Capt. Shawn Arruti said Sunday that Simpson has one approved residential plan, but that could change in the future.
He said that, for now, the 70-year-old Simpson has no permission to leave Nevada without approval from his parole officer.
Simpson, 70, has said he wants to live in Florida, where he used to live and where he has friends and two children. Simpson lost his home near Miami to foreclosure in 2012.
Florida’s Corrections Department “has not received any transfer paperwork from Nevada” about Simpson that would be required for him to live in the state and be monitored there, spokeswoman Ashley Cook said Sunday.
Though Florida’s attorney general has urged corrections officials to object to Simpson’s return, the department has said it would be required to accept a transfer if it met the criteria.
“We understand we may have to take him, if he was a model prisoner,” state Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “If we have to accept him, I certainly want conditions placed on him.”
‘Difficult’ for Goldmans
Simpson faces restrictions during five years of parole supervision, which could be reduced for good behavior. He cannot use illegal drugs and can drink alcohol only if the amount he drinks is below Nevada’s blood-alcohol limit for driving. He also is prohibited from associating with felons or anyone who Nevada officials prohibit him contacting. And he must tell the state where he’ll be living and when he changes his residence. The conditions still apply if Simpson ends up out of state.
It’s all a new chapter for the one-time pop culture phenomenon whose fame was once again on display when the major TV networks carried his parole hearing live.
Simpson told the parole board that he led a “conflictfree 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. He was acquitted in what was dubbed the “trial of the century.”
Goldman’s parents said they respected the Nevada Parole Board’s decision, but that it was “still difficult for us knowing he will be a free man again.” Fred and Kim Goldman said they will continue to pursue payment of a $33.5 million judgment awarded in 1997 after Simpson was found civilly liable for the deaths.