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OJ Simpson given lengthy prison term

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-06 10:09

O.J. Simpson's sister Mattie Shirley Simpson-Baker (R) reacts to her brother's sentencing at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada December 5, 2008. Her husband, Benny Baker, is at left. [Agencies]

The most serious penalty received by the onetime star was 15 years for kidnapping. He was sentenced to an additional six years for use of a deadly weapon in the commission of that crime, plus 12 years for assault, bringing his total maximum term to 33 years.

Simpson had faced a possible life sentence. His lawyers had asked that he serve no more than six years for storming into a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino with five cohorts to hold two sports merchandise dealers at gunpoint, then making off with thousands of dollars in collectibles.

The four other men originally charged in the case all pleaded guilty and took the witness stand for the prosecution during nearly three weeks of testimony.

Neither Simpson nor co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, who was sentenced to spend 7 1/2 to 27 years in prison on Friday, testified during the trial.

Galanter has said his client's past as a notorious murder defendant, widely seen as having eluded justice in Los Angeles, was a factor in Las Vegas jurors' guilty verdict.

And prosecutors told jurors during opening statements that the Las Vegas case grew out of grudges Simpson had nursed since his murder trial and civil case, and suggested they could right a wrong by convicting him.

But Judge Glass, known for her tough sentences, said she was not influenced by Simpson's acquittal 13 years ago.

"There are many people who disagreed with that verdict but that's not what matters to me," she said before sentencing him. "I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else."

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