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OJ 'led military-style raid'
09/11/2007 09:33 - (SA)
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| OJ Simpson covers his face while sitting in a courtroom during his preliminary hearing in Las Vegas. (Justin Sullivan, AP) |
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Las Vegas, Nevada - OJ Simpson led a gang of gun-toting men who stormed into a Las Vegas hotel to rob two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in "military invasion fashion", a court heard on Thursday.
Testifying on the first day of a hearing that will determine whether Simpson stands trial on robbery and kidnapping charges, souvenir dealer Bruce Fromong said the disgraced sports star played a lead role in the alleged heist.
Simpson - famously accused and later acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles in 1994 - could be jailed for life if eventually convicted of robbery and kidnapping charges.
The 60-year-old has been charged with a string of felony offences in connection with an incident in Las Vegas on September 13, when he and a gang of men allegedly swiped memorabilia worth $80 000 from two dealers.
One of the dealers, Fromong, testified on Thursday about the moment when Simpson and his cohorts burst into his room at the Palace Station Casino.
Fromong told a packed courtroom at the Las Vegas Regional Justice Centre that one of the men in Simpson's entourage pointed a gun at him during the chaotic confrontation.
"He stood probably 10 to 12 feet from me with a semi-automatic basically pointed at my face," said Fromong. "OJ kept screaming, 'This is all my shit, it belongs to me.'"
"There was a lot of yelling and screaming going on and the first thing I remember was a statement from Mr Simpson saying don't let anyone out of this room. Nobody leaves."
'Everything that was in that room was mine'
Simpson's lawyers have said their client is innocent of wrongdoing and that no guns were involved. Simpson has said he was recovering property that had been stolen from him.
Fromong testified however that the memorabilia - which included three ties allegedly worn by Simpson during his 1995 murder trial - had been obtained legally. "Everything that was in that room was mine," said Fromong.
Later on Thursday, the court heard testimony from Thomas Riccio who had helped set up the meeting between Fromong and Simpson.
Riccio told the hearing how Simpson plotted the raid. "I have my boys here, we're going to take care of it," Riccio said.
Thursday's hearing got under way amid circus-like scenes that evoked Simpson's "Trial of the Century" in Los Angeles 12 years ago.
A crowd outside the court included a man dressed in a chicken suit holding a sign proclaiming Simpson's guilt, while a woman on rollerskates in a rabbit costume held a banner that read: "Stop police brutality."
Since Simpson's arrest in September three associates initially accused of involvement in the case have agreed to testify against Simpson.
The three men - Charles Cashmore, Walter Alexander, and Michael McClinton - are expected to tell the court that guns were used in the incident and that Simpson played a leading role in organising the alleged heist.
The trio of plea deals has tightened the case being built against Simpson and two other men involved, Clarence Stewart and Charles Ehrlich.
- AFP
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