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O.J. Couldn't Beat Odds Again

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The Associated Press

Published: October 5, 2008

LAS VEGAS - In a city where luck means everything, O.J. Simpson came out the big loser - and his unlucky number in a case full of bizarre twists was 13.

He was convicted of an armed robbery that happened on Sept. 13 and was found guilty on the 13th anniversary of his Los Angeles murder acquittal. The Las Vegas jury deliberated for 13 hours after a 13-day trial.

And then, as only the racking sobs of Simpson's sister broke the silence late Friday, the lights went out.

"Timed out," Judge Jackie Glass said of the lights' automatic shut off in a fitting epitaph for the story of O.J. Simpson, which has long haunted America.

The 61-year-old Hall of Fame football star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for gathering five men a year ago and storming into a room at a hotel-casino, where the group seized several game balls, plaques and photos. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed; one of them said Simpson asked him to bring a gun.

Once convicted, Simpson, the sports-idol-turned-celebrity-pariah, was handcuffed and led from the room with his co-defendant, Clarence "C.J." Stewart. They could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

"There is justice," said attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented the family of his slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. "Justice was delayed, but in this case it was not denied. Now that he may spend the rest of his life in prison, the law, and not O.J. Simpson, will have the last word."

Many of the people in the courtroom couldn't believe the verdicts. Simpson's sister, Carmelita Durio, fainted.

Some observers said the Las Vegas case paled in comparison to the "trial of the century" in 1995, a yearlong opus in which Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Simpson's Las Vegas defense tried to tell the jury that the two cases had nothing to do with each other, but it was a losing battle.

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter and Stewart's attorneys promised to appeal, in part because the jury included no blacks.

Neither Simpson nor Stewart testified.

Simpson and Stewart are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 5.

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