Debate over legal treatment of OJ Simpson

Legal experts are questioning whether fallen American football star OJ Simpson is being treated unfairly by police investigating a casino-hotel robbery case.

News conferences, several felony charges, a walk in handcuffs and detention in a holding cell without bail – it is clear authorities are not giving him any celebrity breaks.

Police insist such treatment is prudent for a man whose name is synonymous with a famous slow-speed chase from officers in a white Ford Bronco.

But experts are questioning whether Simpson is being singled out for extra-tough prosecution in the robbery case as payback for his murder acquittal more than a decade ago.

“It is regrettable that America has not gotten over the OJ Simpson criminal case,” said Carl Douglas, who was co-counsel with Johnnie Cochran in Simpson’s 1995 criminal trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend.

“The fact that he is being held without bail seems unfair and over the top,” Douglas said. “OJ has always been able to satisfy his obligations to the court. He cooperated with the authorities in this case. He is not a flight risk. And he certainly can’t hide anywhere.”

At least six plainclothes policemen, accompanied by a handful of hotel security guards, arrested Simpson on Sunday at The Palms hotel in Las Vegas.

He was accused of leading an armed heist of sports memorabilia. The former professional football star said he was only reclaiming possessions that had been stolen.

“By our standard, there was no major show of force,” Sergeant John Loretto said.

Simpson was handcuffed and taken in a police vehicle to the Clark County Detention Centre to be booked on six felonies, including two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon.

If convicted of the charges, he could get up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count alone.

Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith, who made the decision to hold Simpson without bail, was “concerned about the flight factor” and because Simpson had no ties to the Las Vegas area, said Judge Nancy Oesterle, who addressed reporters yesterday.

Arraignment was set for tomorrow.

Yale Galanter, Simpson’s lawyer, said he was preparing a bond motion and will ask for Simpson’s release when he appears in court for his scheduled arraignment.

“If it was anyone other than OJ Simpson, he would have been released by now,” he said.

Police said they were giving Simpson no special treatment, other than keeping him separated from the rest of the general prison population for his own protection.

In June 1994, Los Angeles police gave Simpson a day and a time to turn himself in to face allegations he had killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

It was a courtesy, said then-prosecutor Marcia Clark, often extended to celebrities or those with no criminal record.

Instead, Simpson jumped in an SUV, apparently with a loaded gun and ready to commit suicide, and led police and media helicopters on a dramatic, televised chase before surrendering.

“The Bronco chase was a nightmare,” said Clark, now a special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. “Certainly he has abused that courtesy, so I would not expect anyone to extend it to him again.”

In a clear misstatement, Captain James Dillon said on Friday at a news conference that, because Simpson was involved, police were being extra careful to conduct “a thorough, biased and competent investigation”.

But some think the misstatement might have been more than an accident.

Jerry Reisman, a New York lawyer who represented OJ Simpson in the early 1990s in business and property matters, said the public and law enforcement “are looking for some sort of conviction for those who want justice for Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Everyone wants to be the one that gets him”.

Experts also raised questions about the decision to release a man who police said carried a gun in the alleged hold-up of two collectors at a Palace Station casino hotel room.

Walter Alexander, 46, was released without bail, despite facing charges almost identical to Simpson's.

Legal experts said that may indicate his testimony could be key to convicting Simpson.

Yesterday, another man suspected in the alleged heist, Clarence Stewart, surrendered, police said.

Stewart, 35, lived at one of the residences that police searched on Sunday to recover some of the memorabilia.

Stewart turned over some of the missing goods, including footballs bearing autographs, Lieutenant Clint Nichols said.

Stewart was held on six felony charges: two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary with a deadly weapon and conspiracy. He was awaiting a bail decision.

An apparent audiotape of OJ Simpson’s standoff with men he accused of stealing his memorabilia begins with the former National Football League star demanding: “Don’t let nobody out of here.”

“Think you can steal my s*** and sell it?” the voice identified as Simpson’s said, in a recording released by celebrity news website TMZ.com.

A big hurdle for prosecutors will also be determining who owned the memorabilia, including Simpson’s Hall of Fame certificate.

Bruce Fromong, one of the sports memorabilia dealers who said he was robbed, told ABC’s Good Morning America that the items did not belong to Simpson.

“If you’re asking did they once belong to him, yes, they did,” Fromong said. “But these were things that belonged to him a long time ago.”

In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica returned $33.5m (€24.2m) in judgments against Simpson in a wrongful-death lawsuit by the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

David Cook, an attorney for Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, said he intended to file requests in Los Angeles Superior Court today to obtain ownership of the seized sports memorabilia for sale to satisfy the judgment.

He said one key item was the suit that Simpson wore on the day he was acquitted.

“Assuming that this case is resolved one way or another, at the end of the case, the stuff will never go back to Mr Simpson,” Cook vowed. “He’s going to walk out of Clark County empty-handed.”

Thomas Mesereau Jr, the defence attorney who represented Michael Jackson in a high-profile trial two years ago, said of the Simpson arrest: “This is the kind of case that will test how fair and professional our legal system is. When you have such a groundswell of dislike for someone, you have to make sure they are treated like anyone else.”