LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson will stand trial on kidnapping, armed robbery and other felony charges stemming from a purported attempt to recover his sports memorabilia, a justice of the peace ruled Wednesday.
The former NFL running back, who has been a tabloid mainstay since being acquitted of murder more than a decade ago, and two codefendants each face 12 charges. If convicted on all counts, they could be sentenced to life in prison.
Simpson -- who showed little emotion through four days of testimony that painted him as the mastermind of the September robbery -- clenched his jaw and slumped as Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure announced his decision. Outside the courthouse, Simpson, 60, hugged one of his attorneys before leaving in a sport utility vehicle trailed by helicopters.
"He knows in his heart he is totally innocent of these charges and believes in the jury system," attorney Yale Galanter said.
Bonaventure's ruling came after he had heard eight witnesses offer colorful -- and sometimes contradictory -- accounts of what happened in Palace Station Hotel & Casino Room 1203.
Their testimony revealed potential trouble spots in Clark County Dist. Atty. David Roger's case against Simpson. The cast of witnesses with rap sheets and suspect motivations led Galanter to call the case "a defense attorney's dream."
One witness who allegedly helped rob two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint, Simpson golfing buddy Walter Alexander, said under oath that he had been willing to slant his testimony had a Simpson friend paid him. Witness accounts sometimes clashed, particularly as to whether Simpson knew two of his companions were armed during the incident.
"This could be a battle royale come trial because the prosecution's witnesses are so dirty," said former federal prosecutor Laurie L. Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor. "Even people who don't like O.J. might dislike the witnesses more."
The hearing also provided a look at Simpson's immersion in the sports collectibles world since a Los Angeles jury acquitted him in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Witnesses said Simpson had sold collectibles on the sly so that Goldman's family, who had won a multimillion-dollar civil judgment against him, couldn't claim the memorabilia.
