OJ Simpson asks Nevada Supreme Court for new trial
O.J. Simpson has thrown a legal Hail Mary in the hopes of getting his 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping thrown out.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Simpson’s lawyers have filed their final appellate brief to the Nevada Supreme Court. Simpson, who was convicted of leading a group of armed men into the Las Vegas hotel room of memorabilia dealers and taking some items Simpson said had been stolen from him, argued that he did not receive a fair trial in 2008. Simpson had previously appealed his conviction, which landed him in prison for nine to 33 years, in 2010 without success.
The appeal stems from Clark County judge Linda Bell’s denial of Simpson’s petition for a new trial last year. In November 2013, Bell ruled that Simpson’s guilt was overwhelming and that any errors that may have occurred at his trial wouldn’t have changed the outcome. Simpson’s current legal team of Patricia Palm of Palm Law Firm and Ozzie Fumo and Tom Pitaro of Pitaro & Fumo, have laid the blame squarely at the feet of Simpson’s trial attorney, Yale Galanter. According to the AP, Simpson’s lawyers claim that Galanter had provided ineffective assistance of counsel and had failed to disclose a conflict of interest. Galanter, according to the AP, has denied that there was a conflict.
According to the AP, the Nevada high court could grant oral arguments or issue a ruling based solely on the appellate briefs before them. Simpson was granted parole in 2013 on the kidnapping and robbery convictions, USA Today reported at the time, but he must remain in prison until 2017 at the earliest because he is not eligible for parole on his related weapons convictions until then.
