Seven Charges Filed Against O.J. Simpson
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LAS VEGAS — Prosecutors filed formal charges yesterday against O.J. Simpson, alleging the fallen football star committed seven felonies, including kidnapping, in the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in a casino-hotel room.
Mr. Simpson was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his hotel room and took several items that Mr. Simpson said belonged to him.
Mr. Simpson, 60, was booked on suspicion of assault and robbery with a deadly weapon. District Attorney David Roger of Clark County filed those charges and added kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to court documents.
Mr. Simpson, who was accused along with three other men, was also charged with one misdemeanor. He faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
He was being held without bail and was scheduled to be arraigned today in the robbery reported at the Palace Station casino.
According to the charges, Mr. Simpson and the others went to the room under the pretext of brokering a deal with the men. Once in the room, Mr. Simpson prevented one of the collectors from calling 911 on his cell phone “by ripping it out of Bruce Fromong’s hand” while one or more accomplices pointed or displayed a handgun.
The complaint does not specify which of the men involved was carrying the weapon.
Mr. Simpson’s lawyer, Yale Galanter, said he planned to ask for Mr. Simpson’s release on his own recognizance.
“If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been released by now,” Mr. Galanter said. Mr. Simpson has insisted he was not armed and that he went to the hotel simply to retrieve property that had been stolen from him.
“You can’t rob something that is yours,” Mr. Galanter said. “O.J. said, ‘You’ve got stolen property. Either you return it or I call the police.'”
Witnesses and authorities have said they don’t believe Mr. Simpson had a gun but that some of the men who accompanied him during the confrontation were armed.