OJ freed after serving 9 years

– Former football legend OJ Simpson, pictured, became a free man again yesterday after serving nine years for a botched hotel room heist in Las Vegas that brought the conviction and prison time he avoided in the killings of his ex-wife and her friend after his 1995 acquittal in the “trial of the century” in Los Angeles.

Simpson was released from Lovelock Correctional Centre in northern Nevada, said state prisons spokesperson Brooke Keast.

She said she did not know the driver who met Simpson upon his release and didn’t know where Simpson was immediately headed.

Neither Simpson’s attorney, Malcolm LaVergne in Las Vegas, nor state Parole and Probation Captain Shawn Arruti, who has been handling Simpson’s case, immediately responded to messages.

Keast said the dead-of-night release from the prison about 145km east of Reno, Nevada, was conducted to avoid media attention.

“We needed to do this to ensure public safety and to avoid any possible incident,” Keast added, speaking by telephone.

She spoke from Lovelock, where she said she witnessed Simpson signing documents to be released.

The 70-year-old Simpson gains his freedom after being granted parole at a hearing in July.

Unlike the last time he went free, 22 years ago, he will face restrictions – up to five years of parole supervision – and he’s unlikely to escape public scrutiny as the man who morphed from charismatic football hero, movie star and TV personality into suspected killer and convicted armed robber.

Simpson was looking forward to reuniting with his family, eating a steak and some seafood and moving back to Florida, LaVergne said recently.

Simpson also plans to get an iPhone and get reacquainted with technology that was in its infancy when he was sent to prison in 2008, his attorney said. – AP