OJ's bail doubled after breach of terms

OJ Simpson’s bail was doubled to €167,000 when he appeared in court today accused of breaching his previous bail terms by trying to contact a co-defendant.

The former American football star and actor faces kidnapping and armed robbery charges over an incident involving the alleged theft of sports memorabilia at the Palace Station Casino in Las Vegas on September 13.

The 60-year-old appeared at the Clark County Court in Las Vegas wearing dark blue prison clothing.

He has been in jail since Friday awaiting today’s hearing.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Simpson told his bail bondsman, Miguel Pereira, in an expletive-laced message to tell co-defendant Clarence “CJ” Stewart how upset Simpson was about testimony during their preliminary hearing.

Mr Roger’s motion alleged Simpson “committed new crimes”, but does not elaborate.

Gabriel Grasso, for Simpson, filed a motion yesterday urging a judge to reject the bid to have Simpson jailed without bail until his April 7 trial.

Grasso said the district attorney’s document “says OJ Simpson in no way violated any conditions of his release”.

Simpson grimaced as the €167,000 bail was announced and acknowledged that he understood.

Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass told Simpson: “I don’t know Mr Simpson what the heck you were thinking – or maybe that’s the problem – you weren’t.”

The judge went on: “I don’t know if it’s just arrogance. I don’t know if it’s ignorance. But you’ve been locked up at the Clark County Detention Centre since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance – or both.”

The judge said the initial court order to not contact other defendants was clear and she warned that if anything else happened in the future Simpson would be locked up.