OJ isolated from fellow prisoners ahead of appeal

OJ SIMPSON’S lawyer said yesterday the disgraced actor and former American football star was being isolated from other prisoners for his own safety while focusing on a motion for a new trial and appeal against his conviction for kidnapping and robbery.

Yale Galanter said he would continue to pursue a request for Simpson to be released on bail.

He said Simpson would be living a lonely life, advised by his lawyers to give no media interviews and allowed to see only family and a few friends placed on a special list at the jail.

Simpson will be held in Clark County Detention Centre in Las Vegas until his December 5 sentencing, and is transferred to state prison. He is likely to remain in jail during his appeal.

Simpson, 61, was convicted on Saturday of kidnapping two sports memorabilia dealers and robbing them at gunpoint in a room at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on September 13 last year — 13 years to the day after he was cleared of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

Las Vegas jurors who convicted Simpson said they relied more on video and other documented evidence than on witness testimony.

Juror Michelle Lyons said the panellists felt they “could not rely on witness testimony”.