O.J. Simpson, the famous Heisman Trophy winning and NFL Hall of Fame running back, turned infamous in 1995 when he was acquitted of the vicious murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. But he was popularized once again in the last calendar year with the release of FX’s The People vs. O.J. Simpson and the deeply complex 5-part ESPN documentary series O.J.: Made in America.
The 10-part FX fictional series, The People vs. O.J. Simpson, won a slew of Emmys and Golden Globes for its powerhouse-acting performances and exceptional writing, while the 5-part documentary series O.J.: Made in America won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film. Both examined race relations in Los Angeles that led up to the shocking verdict of the “Trial of the Century,” but O.J.: Made in America also put Simpson’s entire life under a microscope and indirectly proves what he vehemently has always denied – that he did it.
And while O.J. Simpson currently rots in prison for a Las Vegas robbery that he thought involved stolen memorabilia, he is about to be popularized again soon, and the whole country will be watching.
The New York Post reported:
The Nevada parole board will consider O.J. Simpson’s bid for freedom in July, officials said Monday.
Simpson will be among 673 cons up for parole during month-long meetings, Board of Parole records showed.
The exact date of Simpson’s hearing will be set in June, said David Smith, spokesman for the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.
If the board approves Simpson for parole, he could walk out of Lovelock Correctional Center on Oct. 1. And if board members turn down O.J., they could have him back anytime in the next three years.
Simpson, 69, was convicted for organizing a takeover robbery at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in 2007 against souvenir collectors who had O.J. memorabilia.
If Simpson never gets parole, his prison term would end Oct. 30, 2020, Smith said.
Simpson was acquitted in Los Angeles in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.
Fred Goldman, Ron’s dad, was in the Las Vegas courtroom when Simpson was convicted on the night of Oct. 3, 2008.
The grieving dad, however, has no plans to attend Simpson’s parole hearing.
“I doubt it, we don’t have any standing (involvement in the Palace Station heist),” Goldman told The Post on Monday.
Nonetheless, Goldman hopes the parole board keeps Simpson locked up for as long as possible.
“The reality is, he’s a bad dude, and bad dudes belong in jail,” Goldman said. “I don’t think he has the ability to be a good guy and stay out of trouble. So yes, I’d like to see him remain in jail.”
After Simpson beat the murder raps in criminal court, loved ones of Brown and Goldman took Simpson to civil court — where a jury found O.J. liable for the killings.
He was ordered to pay $33.5 million, but the fallen football hero has paid only a fraction of that bill. His NFL pension and other retirement funds are protected from civil liability.
O.J.: Made in America opens with a scene where Simpson is head to toe in his prison garb in front of a review board examining his conduct. Then a member of the board asked a question about his previous double-murder crime and a perturbed Simpson couldn’t comprehend why his previous trial was relevant at that time.
On October 3, 2008, Judge Jackie Glass intentionally read the verdict for his Las Vegas crimes because it was exactly 13 years to the day he was acquitted for the previous.
Then Judge Glass sentenced Simpson for all of his charges, which totaled exactly 33 years in prison, and the number 33 (million) also happens to be the exact financial amount the Goldman’s won from Simpson in the civil trial.
The point is that the gross injustice of his 1995 acquittal is not lost on anybody, and it will surely be a seed in the parole board’s minds when they make their upcoming decision.
A Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman told the Reno Gazette-Journal:
“For his safety, we can’t open the doors to the public, so we’re doing a live streaming. Whatever the decision the board makes, there’s going to be somebody who isn’t going to like it. There’s no threat and there was nothing happening that indicates there will be issues. But we have to be careful because he’s a higher profile inmate.”
Everyone should be hoping the parole board denies his freedom. Fingers crossed.