Which O.J. Simpson will Las Vegas jury see?
Baggage that has piled up since his murder trial could eclipse his old image -- and the facts -- in the eyes of the panel in his armed robbery trial.
LAS VEGAS — When O.J. Simpson's armed robbery trial opens here today, it will underscore the downfall of the once-dashing NFL running back who spun football glory into public adoration -- until he was accused of killing his ex-wife and her friend.
The O.J. Simpson acquitted in the 1994 slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman cavorted with a Playboy playmate and a cheerleader-turned-lingerie model, favored Bentleys and seaside rounds of golf, and roused people to his defense with a charm honed in post-game interviews.
This time, however, he will enter Judge Jackie Glass' courtroom as a more polarizing figure, worn by years of speculation about his role in the Brentwood murders and portrayed in testimony as clinging to his tattered fame.
This O.J. Simpson purportedly signed footballs and jerseys on the sly, lest the Goldman family collect some of the millions that a civil jury awarded them in 1997; allegedly plotted a sting operation with an ex-con auctioneer who peddled Anna Nicole Smith's diaries; and is said to have enlisted a golfing buddy nicknamed Goldie who allegedly prostituted women using an online photo service.
"The question is: Is this case going to be decided on O.J.'s baggage or the facts and evidence of the case?" said Robert Hirschhorn, a trial consultant in Lewisville, Texas, who co-wrote a textbook on jury selection.
Simpson, 61, is accused of robbing two sports collectible dealers at gunpoint at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino last September. He and codefendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, each face a dozen charges -- including kidnapping, which carries a potential life sentence. Four other codefendants agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for their testimony.
The trial, expected to last at least five weeks, will probably turn on how jurors view the always colorful, always controversial Simpson: as a guy who was trying to retrieve stolen mementos, as he asserts, or as a thug who masterminded a robbery and told two of his cohorts to bring "some heat."
"Anybody who says they don't know who O.J. Simpson is," Hirschhorn said, "is either a recent immigrant to this country or an outright liar." But if jurors can put aside their feelings about Simpson's murder trial, he said, it is possible that "O.J.'s going to walk again."
- Judge seeks O.J. Simpson's Hall of Fame ring Oct 18, 2008
- O.J. Simpson appeals robbery-kidnapping conviction May 27, 2009
- Defense seizes on secret recording in O.J. Simpson case Sep 19, 2008
