O.J. Simpson faces parole hearing Marcella Corona O.J. Simpson has been in prison in Nevada since 2008 for several felony charges, which include kidnapping and armed robbery.
O.J. Simpson could be released this year on parole after spending nearly a decade behind bars at a prison 90 miles east of Reno.
Simpson, now 70, is scheduled for a parole hearing in July, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). The date for that hearing will be set in mid-June by the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.
The former NFL-starturned-actor is serving nine to 33 years in prison at the Lovelock Correctional Center.
He was admitted in December 2008 after he was convicted of several felony charges, including first degree kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit a violent crime, according to NDOC spokeswoman Brooke Keast.
The charges were unrelated to the “trial of the century,” which caught the nation’s attention following the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Instead, it stemmed from a robbery at a Las Vegas casino hotel room in 2007. Simpson has previously described the incident as an attempt to retrieve memorabilia and personal items from two sports collectibles dealers, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.
In a parole hearing in 2013, Simpson told the parole panel he regretted his actions and said he’s tried to be a model inmate.
“I just wish I never went to that room,” the then-66-yearold Simpson said at a previous parole hearing.
He told the panel that he has since made amends with Beardsley and Fromong.
Keast said she didn’t know of any disciplinary actions taken against him. She said NDOC officials are preparing for possi- ble protests.
“We will definitely have more staff working, and we’ll have help from local law enforcement,” Keast said. “We’ve already discussed things with the sheriff in Pershing County and (Carson City) Sheriff Ken Furlong.”
Even if Simpson is granted parole in July, he won’t be released until October.
“For his safety, we can’t open the doors to the public, so we’re doing a live streaming,” Keast said of the upcoming parole hearing in Lovelock. “Whatever the decision the board makes, there’s going to be somebody who isn’t going to like it.”
“There’s no threat and there was nothing happening that indicates there will be issues,” she said. “But we have to be careful because he’s a higher profile inmate.”
Keast said Simpson isn’t interested in talking with media for interviews. Officials plan to hold a news conference in Carson City following the parole hearing.
The murder trial even prompted viewers to revisit the case in the television series, The People v. O.J. Simson: American
Crime Story, which features Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson and John Travolta as Robert Shapiro.