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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 21 July 2017

‘The Juice’ will be loose: Key events in OJ Simpson fall

Commission grants O.J. Simpson parole from sports hero, movie star

Continued from Front exhaled deeply. Simpson insisted he never LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson’s story represents one
By then, he will have served Then, as he was led down meant to hurt anyone, of the most dramatic falls from grace in the history of
the minimum of his nine- a hall, the Hall of Fame ath- never pointed a gun and American pop culture.
to-33-year sentence for a lete raised his hands over didn’t make any threats Here’s a timeline of major events in the life of Simpson,
bungled attempt to snatch his head in a victory ges- during the holdup of two now 70, who has been imprisoned in Nevada for armed
sports memorabilia he ture and said: “Oh, God, sports memorabilia dealers. robbery and on Thursday was granted parole.
claimed had been stolen oh!” “I thought I was glad to get — 1967: Simpson leads all college running backs in rush-
from him. Simpson was widely ex- my stuff back, but it just ing in his first season at the University of Southern Cali-
During the more than hour- pected to win parole, given wasn’t worth it,” he told the fornia.
long hearing on live TV, similar cases and his good board. “It wasn’t worth it, — 1968: Simpson wins the Heisman Trophy, college
Simpson was, by turns, re- behavior behind bars. and I’m sorry.” football’s top honor.
morseful, jovial and defen- His defenders have argued, Even one of the dealers — 1969: The first pick in the pro draft, Simpson goes to
sive, heatedly insisting the too, that his sentence was Simpson robbed, Bruce the Buffalo Bills and spends the next nine seasons with
items taken in the armed out of proportion to the Fromong, testified on his the team.
robbery were “my stuff.” crime and that he was be- behalf, telling the parole — 1973: He becomes the first NFL player to rush for 2,000
At one point, the murder ing punished for the two board that Simpson de- or more yards (2,003) in a season.
defendant in the 1995 “Trial murders he was acquitted served to be released so — 1979: Simpson retires, having rushed for 11,236 yards,
second most in NFL history at the time.
— 1985: Simpson is inducted into the Pro Football Hall
of Fame.
— 1988: Simpson, who had been appearing in TV shows
and commercials since the late 1960s, co-stars in the
first of the “Naked Gun” crime comedies, perhaps his
most popular role.
— February 1992: Nicole Brown Simpson files for divorce
after seven years of marriage. It becomes final Oct. 15.
— June 12, 1994: Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman,
are stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home.
— June 17, 1994: Ordered by prosecutors to surrender,
Simpson instead flees with a friend in a white Ford Bron-
co. It’s a nationally televised chase across California
freeways until police persuade him to surrender.
— June 1995: During Simpson’s trial, a prosecutor asks
him to put on a pair of gloves believed worn by the
killer. The gloves appear too small, leading defense at-
torney Johnnie Cochran to famously state in his closing
argument: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
— Oct. 3, 1995: Simpson is acquitted of murder.
— February 1997: After a trial in a civil suit filed by
the victims’ families, a jury finds Simpson liable for the
deaths and orders he pay survivors $33.5 million.
Former NFL football star O.J. Simpson appears via video for his parole hearing at the Lovelock — July 2007: A federal bankruptcy judge awards the
Correctional Center in Lovelock, Nev., on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Simpson was convicted in 2008 rights to a book by Simpson, in which he discusses how
of enlisting some men he barely knew, including two who had guns, to retrieve from two sports he could have committed the killings, to Goldman’s
collectibles sellers some items that Simpson said were stolen from him a decade earlier.
(Jason Bean/The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP, Pool) family as partial payment of the judgment. The family
renames the book “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.”
of the Century” set off a of in Los Angeles in 1995, he could be with his family. — September 2007: Simpson, accompanied by five
storm of sarcasm and in- the stabbings of ex-wife “He is a good man. He men, confronts two sports-memorabilia dealers in a Las
credulity on social media Nicole Brown Simpson and made a mistake,” Fromong Vegas hotel room, angrily telling them that most of the
when he said: “I’ve basi- her friend Ronald Gold- said, adding the two re- memorabilia they are planning to sell is rightfully his.
cally spent a conflict-free man. main friends. — Oct. 3, 2008: A jury finds Simpson and co-defendant
life, you know.” Inmate No. 1027820 made Arnelle Simpson, at 48 the Clarence “C.J.” Stewart guilty of kidnapping, armed
All four parole commission- his plea for freedom in a eldest of Simpson’s four robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and
ers who conducted the stark hearing room at the children, told the board, conspiracy charges. The other accomplices had taken
hearing voted for his re- Lovelock Correctional “We recognize that he is plea deals and received probation.
lease after a half-hour of Center in rural Nevada as not the perfect man.” But — December 2008: Simpson is sentenced to nine to
deliberations. the parole commissioners she said he has been “a 33 years and sent to Lovelock Correctional Center in
They cited, among other questioned him via video perfect inmate, following northern Nevada.
things, the low risk he might from Carson City, a two- all the rules and making the — October 2010: The Nevada Supreme Court denies
commit another crime, his hour drive away. best of the situation.” Simpson’s appeal but grants Stewart a new trial. Stew-
community support and Gray-haired but looking “We just want him to come art takes a plea deal and is released.
his release plans, which in- trimmer than he has in re- home, we really do,” she — July 25, 2013: Simpson asks the Nevada Parole Board
clude moving to Florida. cent years, Simpson walked said. for leniency, saying he has tried to be a model prisoner.
“Thank you, thank you, stiffly into the hearing room The commissioners said the He wins parole on some convictions but is left with at
thank you,” Simpson said in jeans, a light-blue prison- murder case played no role least four more years to serve.
quietly as he buried his issue shirt and sneakers. in their decision, though a — July 20, 2017: A four-member parole board unani-
head on his chest with re- He chuckled at one point majority of letter writers op- mously grants Simpson parole, effective Oct. 1. The
lief. as the parole board chair- posed to Simpson’s release board cites the low risk he might commit another crime,
As he rose from his seat to woman mistakenly gave asked the board to take it his community support and a release plan that includes
return to his prison cell, he his age as 90. into account.q moving to Florida, where he has family.q