O.J.’s free from prison – now faces debt penalty
GOLDMAN LAWYER VOWS TO HOUND EX-CON
O.J. SIMPSON is out of prison — and an attorney for the family of Ronald Goldman is ready to put the squeeze on him.
California lawyer David Cook told the Daily News he’s ready to resume the Goldmans’ efforts to collect their cut of a wrongfuldeath civil judgment against Simpson that’s now worth just under $70 million.
“This judgment will never go away. We’ll be his shadow in perpetuity. It will follow him around every corner, every place. We’re not letting this go,” Cook said.
“The bad news (for Simpson) is I’m a person of inexhaustible energy and imagination. I’m in good health. I’m good for many years on this,” he added. “He’s not going to get away with this,” Cook added.
Fred Goldman, Ronald’s father, said last week he expects Simpson will get in trouble again — but just by his going free, “we’ll have lost again.”
Simpson, 70, was released from Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada at 12:08 a.m. Sunday. He was whisked away in a white SUV.
A few hours later, he got grouchy when he was caught on video in a rest stop outside Las Vegas, the city where he plans to live, and asked about his freedom.
“I’m in a car for the last five hours, so how do I know how it feels to be out?” he told a Splash News reporter.
He added that he’s just the same old Juice.
“I’ve been in Nowhere, USA, for the last nine years doing nothing,” he said. “Nothing has changed in my life. What do you guys, I mean, what do you expect? I mean there’s nothing changed.”
Before he parted ways with the prison staff, Lovelock officials told the fallen NFL great the same thing they say to every departing inmate: “Don’t come back.”
“I don’t intend to,” he replied, according to Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast.
His first meal as a free man came during a pit stop at a McDonald’s drive-thru, where his lawyer said he ordered two double Quarter Pounders with cheese.
Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of murder in the slayings of his exwife Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman, her friend. He was found civilly liable for the slayings in 1997 and ordered to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million — a sum that has more than doubled with interest.
Simpson served nine years behind bars — most of them at Lovelock in northern Nevada — after robbing two memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel in 2007.
After the disgraced halfback signed his release papers, he left the prison still wearing standard prison garb: blue jeans, a denim jacket and white tennis shoes.
Keast is heard saying, “Here you go, come out,” to Simpson in a brief clip on the Department of Correction’s Facebook page. The state released Simpson under the cover of night to avoid a media frenzy, Keast said.
When he was granted parole, officials set Oct. 1 as the earliest possible date for his release.
Simpson’s best friend, Tom Scotto, who lives in Naples, Fla., said by text message that he was with Simpson following his release.
Scotto didn’t respond to questions about where they were going or whether Simpson’s sister, Shirley Baker of Sacramento, Calif., or his daughter, Arnelle Simpson of Fresno, Calif., were with him.
The three had attended Simpson’s parole hearing in July.
In a brief conversation with the Daily News, Scotto did not indicate he was with Simpson.
“I just spoke to him five minutes ago. He’s doing great. He’s tired, but he’s thrilled to be out. He’s safe, and that’s it. We’ll talk again later,” Scotto said.
Scotto told The News last week that the one-time gridiron great was eager for release.
He confirmed that he had spoken with Simpson recently and knows the former TV pitchman and actor is ready to resume his life on the outside.
“Everybody’s stomach is in knots. He’s excited. He wants out,” Scotto said.
He said Simpson “eventually” wants to end up in Florida.
A Nevada parole official said Simpson plans to live at a home in the Las Vegas area for now. State Parole and Probation Capt. Shawn Arruti said Sunday that Simpson has one approved residential plan, and it doesn’t include a move to Florida or any other state.
The Florida Department of Corrections said officials had not received a transfer request or required documents. Regardless, the Sunshine State, Attorney General Pam Bondi has said, doesn’t want him.
“Our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal,” Bondi said Friday.
After the 2007 incident, Simpson was sentenced in Nevada to serve up to 33 years. He was granted parole in July.
He’ll be subject to supervision by the state Division of Parole and Probation through September 2022.