O. J. Simpson
The disgraced NFL great is granted parole after spending nearly nine years in prison
ATA PAROLE HEARING ON JULY 20 inside Nevada’s Lovelock Correctional Center, inmate No. 1027820 sat beside his lawyer, looking like any other convict desperate to win parole. Older, greyer and heavier after nearly nine years behind bars, 70-year-old O.J. Simpson smiled, cracked jokes and told the four-member board just how sorry he was for committing the crime that landed him there, a 2007 armed robbery of a sports-memorabilia dealer in a Las Vegas hotel room. “I’ve basically lived a conflict-free life,” Simpson told the panel that later unanimously approved parole. “I’ve done my time. I’ve done it as well and as respectfully as I think anyone can.”
The irony of the disgraced football great’s words appeared lost on Simpson, who many believe is responsible for the 1994 double homicide of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was acquitted in a 1995 trial that consumed the US but later found responsible in a 1997 civil trial and ordered to pay $33.5 million damages to the victims’ families. With plans to move to Florida, Simpson will have to be on his best behaviour. “No more partying, drinking and strip clubs,” says his former manager Norman Pardo. “He knows he can’t even jaywalk or he’s going to be in trouble. He’ll play golf and hopefully do fruitful, mild-mannered things.”