Member Since: 5/10/2012
Posts: 10,996
|
OJ Simpson asking for a new trial
Quote:
An older and grayer O.J. Simpson was back in a Las Vegas courtroom to appeal his 2008 armed robbery conviction, claiming that he had such bad representation that he deserves a new trial. NBC News' Leanne Gregg reports.
Wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, O.J. Simpson appeared Monday in a Las Vegas courtroom where he is trying to get his 2008 robbery conviction tossed on the grounds he did not have proper legal representation.
The former football star — noticeably grayer and heavier than the last time he appeared in public — is serving 9 to 33 years after a jury found him guilty of orchestrating the gunpoint seizure of memorabilia he claimed was stolen from him.
A previous appeal was rejected in 2010. In the latest bid for a new trial, Simpson is arguing that his ex-lawyer, Yale Galanter, gave him bad advice, knew about the attempt to reclaim the memorabilia in advance, and told him it was legal.
Simpson — who did not take the stand during the explosive 1995 trial for the murder of his wife and her friend, which ended in his acquittal — is expected to testify midway through the five-day hearing. Galanter is also slated to take the stand.
If he doesn't prevail at this proceeding, known as a writ of habeas corpus, Simpson, 65, must serve five more years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
On the stand for the hearing, a friend of Simpson described Galanter as "somewhat dismissive" of any concerns his client voiced about the way the trial was going
.
“Mr. Simpson was ...somewhat intimidated by Mr. Galanter. He was dominated by him. He tended not to question what he told him,” said James Barnett, a Las Vegas businessman.
“If Mr. Simpson would ask about some specific point in court, he would say, 'That’s not important' or 'Don’t worry about it.'”
Barnett said Galanter told him that he and his 15-year-old son were performing analysis of audiotapes that were a key piece of evidence in the trial because they couldn't afford to hire experts.
The appeals team also questioned Dr. Norman Roitman, a psychiatrist who specializes in the effects of alcohol on perception.
The lawyers asked Roitman whether someone who fit Simpson's physical description, who had been "drinking all day" and the night before and was sleep-deprived and stressed-out, might experience poor perception in a crowded hotel room where he expected to find personal items he had not seen for 15 years.
|
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-for-new-trial
|
|
|
|
