Verdict reached in O.J. Simpson trial
The verdict in the Las Vegas robbery and kidnapping trial is to be announced at 10 p.m. The jury deliberated about 12 hours.
LAS VEGAS — The jury in O.J. Simpson's armed robbery and kidnapping trial has reached a verdict, court officials said, and it is to be announced about 10 p.m. Friday.
The panel of nine women and three men -- none of them black -- deliberated more than 12 hours after listening to nearly three weeks of testimony. The jury's discussions began exactly 13 years after Simpson was acquitted in Los Angeles of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.
The case here was marked by hours of secret audio recordings, alleged victims who professed to like Simpson and witnesses who tried to cash in on their ties to the former NFL star.
Prosecutors painted Simpson, 61, as masterminding the alleged robbery of two sports collectibles dealers in a hotel room last year. The Hall of Fame running back, the prosecution contended, rounded up five cohorts, told two of them to bring guns and ordered one of the armed men to brandish his weapon and "look menacing."
Simpson and codefendant Clarence Stewart, 54, are charged with a dozen crimes -- including armed robbery and kidnapping, which carries a potential life sentence. Four of their former codefendants agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and testified for the prosecution.
Despite detailing an intriguing plot with colorful characters, the proceedings paled next to Simpson's months-long, televised "trial of the century" in the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The 1995 case became a cultural flash point that drew huge courthouse crowds and polarized black and white Americans.
A civil jury in 1997 found the Heisman Trophy winner liable for the deaths. The onetime actor, pitchman and sports commentator has paid little of the $33.5-million judgment.
In Las Vegas, the anticipated circus never showed up. Media coverage dwindled as the economy faltered and the presidential election ramped up. On most days, the courtroom was only half-filled.
Simpson, who did not take the stand, was here in September 2007 to take part in a friend's wedding. Simpson has said he and his cohorts were trying to retrieve stolen mementos from collectibles dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley in the Palace Station hotel room.
"We may quibble with how it was done, what was done," said Simpson attorney Yale Galanter in his closing argument. "You may all say he didn't use common sense. But the real issue is whether he had criminal intent to commit a crime."
