By Dorothy Rowley
AFRO Staff Writer
(December6, 2008) - Despite pleas by O.J. Simpson and his attorneys that called for leniency in his sentencing Friday over a botched robbery, assault and kidnap attempt more than a year ago in Las Vegas, a Clark County judge remained unmoved by both and sealed the defamed NFL football legend’s fate with a 15-year prison sentence. With a number of consecutive sentences, Simpson may not be eligible for parole for eight years.
Prior to sentencing, Simpson fought to hold back tears as he tried to explain his reason for being in Las Vegas in September 2007.
“I stand before you today sorry. I am apologetic to the people of Nevada . . . When I came here; I came here for a wedding. I didn’t come to reclaim property,” he said.
But, in the end, Judge Jackie Glass, who said she didn’t know at first what to think about Simpson’s actions, equated them with him being not only “arrogant” but “ignorant” as well.
Simpson’s lawyers also called his actions “stupid” and admitted he broke the law. But, they said, his actions didn’t “rise to the level of criminality that would warrant a long prison sentence.”
Unlike the huge fanfare that surrounded his 1995 trial, many among the Black community had paid little attention to Simpson’s latest troubles.
As word spread this weekend of Simpson’s sentencing, however, the general sentiment was that the community felt it had been largely ignored by Simpson following his acquittal in the1995 murders of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
“After he got off the first time, he just kind of forgot he was still a Black man and turned his back on the very people who believed in his innocence,” said a male shopper at the Mall at Columbia in Maryland, who asked not to be identified.
While other shoppers told the AFRO they had not followed the trial, a handful said that although Simpson’s actions showed poor judgment, his sentencing was too harsh.
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Monique Paul
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“I think the sentence was harsh. I also think that the judge had it in for him,” Monique Paul said, referring to the widespread anger that resonated among Whites in the 1995 acquittal. “Because he was set free, he’s been kind of like a target ever since.” |
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| Will Payne agreed that the crimes did not fit the sentencing. Nonetheless, he said he expected a lengthy prison sentence. “The judge said she wasn’t trying him for his prior [alleged] offenses,” said Payne, “but the public sentiment was that O.J. got off free [before] and that he needed to receive a stiff sentence.” |
Will Payne
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Antonio Rodriguez
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According to Antonio Rodriguez, Simpson should be granted another trial. “In this one, I feel the judge was looking at the murders of his wife and Goldman,” Rodriguez told the AFRO. “She was against him from the start and that wasn’t right.” |