Numerous broadcasters were expected to carry the Nevada parole hearing Thursday morning live.
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On Thursday, O.J. Simpson will appear before a parole board in Nevada to try and get out of prison. He described taking a computer course, and working in the athletic department at the Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada.
Simpson is now in prison for an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel, where he and others held two men at gunpoint while taking sports memorabilia that Simpson says belonged to him.
If he is granted parole at the hearing – which will be televised live – he will walk free from prison on 1 October. That’s where the national and worldwide obsession with this hearing comes into play.
This all has nothing to do with the famous 1994 trial and acquittal Simpson had after he was charged with murdering his ex-wife. The 2013 hearing took just 15 minutes, USA Today noted, and though it usually takes weeks for a decision in these instances, given the high profile of Simpson’s case, a decision will be made right away.
“Under the proposition bet: “Will O.J. Simpson be granted parole in 2017?” the lines are “Yes” (-300) and “No” (+200)”. In order for Simpson to be paroled, at least four commissioners on the board must vote in his favor. “I wish I had just said “keep it” and not worry about it”, he said.
“The fact that he is a celebrity will have very little importance or no (during the hearing)”, a-t-he, however, stressed in an interview with the AFP.
“These commissioners know the whole world is looking at them”.
Famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, represented Simpson during the trial.
The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. EST, with four commissioners meeting in Carson City and Simpson participating remotely in the presence of his attorney. “It took anywhere from four to six months before I was able to return back to work after that”.
Simpson will speak. Allowed to testify as well are one representative, likely his lawyer; a family member or supporter, and one victim of the crime.
While the world at large has mixed feelings about the possibilty of O.J. being a free man later this year, one of his victims – his former friend and the memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong – recently admitted that he would be comfortable seeing O.J. released.
What else will the board consider?
The aforementioned past convictions are part of a pre-sentence investigation, as are details about the crime, circumstances that affected him at the time he committed it, and his “characteristics”. It plans to make its written risk assessment public after a decision.
Not for the grisly 1994 murders of his ex-wife and a male companion – he was famously acquitted in that case.
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But, he’s apparently been on his best behavior while behind bars, and has a good chance of gaining parole, according to ABC News.
