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OJ Simpson to stand trial
28/11/2007 22:18 - (SA)
Los Angeles - A Las Vegas judge on Wednesday ordered OJ Simpson and two co-defendants to stand trial in April in what prosecutors call the armed robbery of his own memorabilia from two collectors.
Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass set an April
7 trial date for Simpson, Clarence Stewart and Charles Ehrlich
on 12 counts of conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery and burglary
stemming from an incident on September 13.
The football star-turned-actor, who was acquitted of double
murder in 1995, also entered a not guilty plea to the charges
during the brief hearing in Las Vegas, a court spokesperson said. Steward and Ehrlich also pleaded not guilty.
Simpson, 60, is accused of leading a group of men who
stormed a room at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino and took
his own memorabilia from two collectors, Alfred Beardsley and
Bruce Fromong, at gunpoint.
Retrieved his own stolen property
Simpson's defence attorneys deny the charges, arguing that he never brandished a weapon and went to the hotel room only to retrieve his own stolen property.
He was ordered to stand trial after a hearing before
another Las Vegas judge on November 14. Three other men originally charged in the case have agreed to plead guilty and testify against Simpson.
Simpson, who parlayed his fame as an athlete into a career
in Hollywood, was found not guilty of the June 12 1994
murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron
Goldman after a sensational trial.
A civil court jury later found Simpson liable for the
deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5m in damages to the
victims' families, a judgment that remains largely unpaid.
- Reuters
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