O.J. closer to freedom
Simpson set for parole hearing in July
CARSON CITY — Former football star and actor O.J. Simpson might be one step closer to freedom after more than eight years in a Nevada prison.
Simpson, 69, could be released from Lovelock Correctional Center by Oct. 1 if the state Parole Board rules favorably on his release request following a July 20 hearing. Simpson will be in Lovelock. The hearing will be teleconferenced to the board in Carson City.
The hearing date was announced Tuesday. A website devoted to the hearing indicates the Parole Board will deliberate in private following testimony, but vote in public.
The sentences that are aggregated for purposes of the hearing include four concurrent sentences for use of a deadly weapon and two consecutive sentences for assault with a deadly weapon.
Simpson has been incarcerated at Lovelock, a medium-security facility about 130 miles northeast of Carson City, since December 2008. He was paroled in July 2013 on two kidnapping and three other charges stemming from his 2007 robbery of two memorabilia collectors at Palace Station. He is now up for parole on a second set of sentences after serving an additional four years.
The hearing will be held in front of four commissioners.
While the hearings are public, testimony is limited to the inmate, a representative of the inmate, victims of the crime and one family member or supporter of the inmate. The board will consider confidential information, including a presentence investigation, a parole hearing report, a risk assessment and letters of support or opposition, if any.
Simpson was found not guilty by a Los Angeles jury in 1995 of the 1994
SIMPSON
lytes and soda with salt and a lemon.
The taco crew had plenty of company coping with the heat. Around 3:20 p.m., outside the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Matt Scanlon, a blueeyed officer with a pink sunburn, pulled up in his white Harley-davidson. He wore knee-high boots, a 20-pound utility belt and a 3- to 5-pound bulletproof vest.
It was 113 degrees.
Scanlon, a traffic officer for more than two years, prepares for the heat, loading his motorcycle with two water bottles: an insulated metal one and a plastic one he freezes overnight. He also packs two towels, a dry one to wipe his face and a wet one to cool his neck.
“And my major piece of equipment right here,” he said, showing a tan, floppy hat he wears to shield him from the sun.
On days when he gets really hot, he’ll look for shade or stop in a nearby convenience store and ask, “Do you mind if I step in your cooler?” The cold brings relief, he said.
“It feels great,” he said with a laugh. “The only caveat is I know I’ll have to go back outside.”
Meanwhile, in North Las Vegas, in a string of new developments off Shadybrook Lane, crews worked on houses that need roofs, windows or touchups. At 4:30 p.m., it was 116 degrees.
Carlos Garcia, a construction worker in a highlighter-green T-shirt, was finishing his eight-hour shift inside an unfinished house. He and the other members of his three-person crew manage the heat by drinking water, soda and Gatorade and taking regular breaks.
Garcia is careful when it’s hot, having learned his lesson. Four years ago, during a construction job, he grew dizzy and saw black. He had to call his supervisor, get medicine and takeabreak.
Next door, Alex Hill, Garcia’s project manager for Harmony Homes, walked out in jeans and a pair of reflective yellow sunglasses. He called to his crew across the street.
“Window guys, you look like a bird hanging out that window,” Hill said. “Everyone there’s baking and their brains are smoldering.”
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702.387.5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.