Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Former United States National Football League (NFL) star and Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson has been allowed to post bail after being charged with ten felonies and one gross misdemeanor, in an alleged robbery that occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday September 14, 2007. Altogether, Simpson is facing 11 charges.

The judge presiding over the case, Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. has granted the prosecutions request that the bail for his release be set at US$125,000, but the bail comes with other conditions as well.

According to one of Simpson’s lawyers Yale Galanter, the bail agreement was reached with the prosecution days before today’s hearing, and Simpson only had to pay $19,000 of the $125,000 to get out of jail.

Simpson must also surrender his passport in 24 hours and is only allowed to travel within the mainland United States. Simpson is also “not allowed to have any contact whatsoever with any witness” or individual on the side of the prosecution which includes “no third-party contacting” and “no carrier pigeons.” Simpson was later released a few hours after the hearing.

After the hearing, during a press conference outside the courtroom Galanter stated that he would “be taking action” against an attorney who appeared on the FOX News Channel on Tuesday night who falsely identified himself as Simpson’s attorney.

“We are his only attorneys,” said Galanter during the press conference.

Simpson’s lawyers had to speak over the large number of bystanders and media, some whom were cheering when Galanter said he would be released shortly. One man standing next to Galanter suddenly yelled “nice job guy! That’s right, up high!,” as he was attempting to give Galanter a ‘high-five.’

Simpson was charged with kidnapping with a deadly weapon robbery, and other charges on September 14 after, according to Simpson, he performed his “own sting operation” to retrieve sports memorabilia items and other “personal” items that allegedly belonged to Simpson. Reports say that the total value of all the items combined is over $100,000.

There are at least seven other individuals facing charges in the alleged robbery. Walter Alexander, Clarence Stewart, Tom Scotto and Michael McClinton are all allegedly accomplices of Simpson. Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley are both dealers in sports memorabilia. Thomas Riccio is the owner of an auction who let Simpson know about the items that were going to be sold. Riccio also has an audio tape of the entire incident, which he recorded.

The next hearing is scheduled for October 22. Clark County District Attorney David Roger will be the presiding prosecutor for the State of Nevada.