OJ Simpson faces life in prison
Emotional scenes at kidnapping trial
Published:
OJ SIMPSON faces spending the rest of his life behind bars today after being found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery in Las Vegas.
An all-white jury of nine women and three men unanimously found him guilty of all 12 charges after more than 13 continuous hours of deliberations, which started 13 years to the day after he was cleared of a double murder in America’s “trial of the century”.
The former American football star kidnapped two sports memorabilia dealers and robbed them at gunpoint in a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino in Las Vegas on September 13 last year, the jury at the Clark County District Court found.
Simpson, 61, who now lives in Miami, Florida, faces up to life in prison when sentenced on December 5.
It will mark the lowest point of a momentous fall from grace for the former actor and National Football League star whose high-profile 1995 trial saw him cleared of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, by a predominantly black jury in Los Angeles.
Simpson’s sister, Carmelita Durio, sobbed in the public gallery behind him as the verdicts were read out today.
As spectators left the courtroom, Ms Durio collapsed and paramedics were called, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.
Outside court, Yale Galanter, defending Simpson, said he would appeal.
The 1995 verdict shocked the world and prompted debates over the racial elements of the case and the suitability of televised trials.
In Las Vegas, Simpson, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and grey tie, blew out his cheeks, sighed heavily and nodded as the verdicts were read out.
