LAS VEGAS — In his suite at the Palms hotel last year, O.J. Simpson hunched over, lowered his voice and asked two men to arm themselves for a confrontation with a pair of sports memorabilia dealers, one of the alleged gunmen testified Wednesday.
Walter Alexander cautioned Simpson, who said the dealers had stolen his mementos, that the weapons might attract police. "[Forget] the police," said the former NFL star, according to Alexander. "What are they going to do -- take me to jail for trying to get my own [stuff]?"
Alexander, a former Simpson golfing buddy, was the first witness at Simpson's armed robbery and kidnapping trial to tell jurors the guns were Simpson's idea. He said the gridiron great initially told him and another friend, Michael "Spencer" McClinton, to leave the weapons in their waistbands. But as they approached the room where the meeting was to occur, Alexander said, Simpson "told Spencer to take the gun out and put it in his hand."
A sense of foreboding consumed Alexander. "This is going to be a robbery," he recalled thinking.
Jurors appeared rapt by Alexander's account, with some scooting forward in their seats and others requesting new pencils to write in their notebooks. Alexander, possibly more than any other witness, is a litmus test for the prosecution's case. He appeared to have had intimate knowledge of Simpson's actions on Sept. 13, 2007, but was characterized by the defense as a man of suspect motives.
Alexander was accused of asking for up to $50,000 to slant his testimony -- he called that a "total lie" -- and going on TV to solicit a publisher for his book. The exchanges grew so heated that at one point Alexander told defense attorney Yale Galanter: "I don't like the way you smell."
Outside the presence of jurors, the judge turned down the defense's attempt to ask Alexander whether he worked as a pimp -- as lawyers had insinuated at the preliminary hearing in November. At that hearing, Alexander denied being a pimp.
Simpson, 61, faces a dozen charges stemming from the brief encounter at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino. The collectibles dealers say the retired athlete and five associates stole up to $100,000 in memorabilia at gunpoint. Simpson -- who could face life in prison if convicted -- maintains he never saw a weapon and never asked anyone to bring one.
Right after the incident, "He was saying it to everybody that was involved: 'Just remember -- no guns,' " Alexander said.
