USA/FILE: O.J. Simpson pleads not guilty to alleged armed robbery as trial is set for April

Football star-turned-actor O.J. Simpson pleads not guilty to allegedly robbing two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. The jury trial is scheduled to begin on April 7. O.J. Simpson, the football star-turned-actor who was acquitted of double murder in 1995, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday (November 28) in what prosecutors say was the armed robbery in Las Vegas of his own memorabilia from a pair of collectors. Simpson and his two co-defendents Charles Ehrlich and Clarence Stewart all pleaded not guilty when asked by Judge Jackie Glass. The three men will stand trial on 12 charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, in the Sept. 13 incident at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino. The jury trial was scheduled to begin April 7. Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, told reporters after the judge's ruling that jury selection was likely to be the most "onerous" part. "Do I think that these jurors are going to punish him for beliefs they may have about things that occurred in Mr. Simpson's past? I am very concerned that we get 12 people on the jury that can listen to the evidence that occurs in the courtroom. I mean, that's what it's really all about," he said. Prosecutors say Simpson led five accomplices in stealing the memorabilia at gunpoint from Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley. Walter Alexander, Charles Cashmore and Michael McClinton were also charged in the case initially but agreed to plead guilty and testify for the prosecution. Both Alexander and McClinton told the court during the hearing that Simpson asked them to bring guns to the Palace Station, just off the Las Vegas strip, to intimidate Fromong and Beardsley. Defense lawyers argued that Simpson went to the hotel only to recover his own stolen belongings and did not have a gun. The defendants could potentially be sentenced to life in prison if they are convicted on all charges at a trial, although legal experts said they could also face considerably less time. Simpson, who parlayed his fame as an athlete into a career in Hollywood, was acquitted of the June 12, 1994, murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman after the sensational trial that transfixed much of the world. A civil court jury later found Simpson liable for the deaths and ordered him to pay 33.5 million U.S. dollars in damages to the victims' families, a judgement that remains largely unpaid.

ITN Source | November 30, 2007

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