O.J. Simpson Sentenced to Prison for Armed Robbery
O.J. Simpson
Former football great O.J. Simpson was sentenced to prison on Friday for at least nine years in a bizarre armed robbery case he had claimed was meant to retrieve his own sports memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel in 2007, The Associated Press reported.
Simpson, who was convicted on Oct. 3 — 13 years to the day he was acquitted in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, appeared to break down in tears in the Las Vegas courtroom as he told the judge he was "sorry and confused" before going into a rambling and emotional five-minute declaration, according to the AP.
"I didn't want to steal anything from anyone ... I'm sorry, sorry," he said.
Simpson was convicted of 12 charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, stemming from the incident at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino. He was accused of storming into a hotel room with a group friends, including at least two with guns, and seizing memorabilia worth thousands of dollars from two dealers in September 2007.
Simpson did not testify during his three-week trial, but he has said he went to the hotel only to recover personal items stolen from his Los Angeles home, and that he was unaware the other men were armed.
Judge Jackie Glass rejected Simpson's apology, saying "It was much more than stupidity."
Glass ruled before sentencing that Simpson cannot be freed on bail pending appeal.
