Lawyers for disgraced NFL star O.J. Simpson today filed the opening brief for what they are hoping will be a “fast track appeal.”
Simpson was convicted on Oct. 3 of all 12 robbery, kidnapping and weapons charges that he faced following a Sept. 13, 2007, confrontation with two memorabilia dealers in a Palace Station hotel room.
Judge Jackie Glass later sentenced the All-Star running back to 33 years in prison without the possibility of parole for nine years.
Meanwhile, Simpson’s co-defendant, Clarence “CJ” Stewart, received a sentence of 27 years in jail with no possibility of parole until 2016.
Today’s filing poses eight questions that outline the reasons Simpson and his attorneys’ believe provide grounds for reversal:
1. Did the District Court commit error in not giving the jury a requested theory of defense instruction?
2. Did the District Court commit error when sentencing Simpson for both robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon?
3. Was there insufficient evidence to support Simpson’s conviction for kidnapping? Were the kidnapping convictions redundant to the robbery convictions?
4. Did the District Court commit error by admitting inadmissible hearsay statements against Simpson?
5. Did the prosecution commit prosecutorial misconduct by eliciting testimony of witness intimidation?
6. Did the District Court violate Simpson’s 6th Amendment right to confront witnesses when it prohibited defense counsel from conducting full and complete cross examination?
7. Did the District Court commit error during jury selection in denying the defense’s baston challenges, challenges for cause, and improperly restrict jury voir dire?
8. Did the District Court commit judicial misconduct throughout the trial which prejudiced Simpson’s right to due process?
The 47-page filing argues Simpson’s trial “was fundamentally unfair” because of Glass’s “chastising the attorneys in the presence of the jury; making rulings from the bench that were not based in the law;” improperly instructing the jury; admitting hearsay and intimidating evidence; preventing “the defense to exercise full and complete cross examination of witnesses;” and not allowing “counsel to examine prospective jurors about their known and unknown biases (sic).”
The brief also highlights Glass’ conduct on the bench, giving detailed play-by-play of several instances where the judge was curt with members of the defense counsel.
Simpson’s attorneys believe the errors Glass committed or permitted are “so egregious and prejudicial that the defense could not get a fair trial.”
“The cumulative error in this trial is vast,” they allege in the report. “Any one of the errors discussed would warrant reversal, taken as a whole they mandate it.”
Stewart’s lawyers are also expected to soon file an appeal.
Simpson, 61, is currently being held at the Lovelock Correctional Center, about 90 minutes northeast of Reno.
His new attorney, Malcolm LaVergne, said he expected the appeal would be heard “somewhere in the fall, probably in the late fall,” however it could take up to a year.
“The whole appeal process is not complete,” he said, noting that the District Attorney’s Office has about two months to file its counter appeal brief. he also explained that the defense can reply to the DA’s filing before the court makes its decision.
“The court is going to hear this, it’s just how it’s going to be heard,” LaVergne said. “They could decide it without hearing oral arguments.”
This morning’s filing with the Supreme Court of Nevada in Carson City was 30 pages long, not including the appendices.
“We could’ve written a lot more,” LaVergne said, Each appendix had as many as 250 pages and the court record was 6,000 pages on its own, he said.
LaVergne recently replaced Simpson’s former attorney, Gabriel Grasso, after the co-counsel reportedly withdrew from the case, citing an “ongoing disagreement” he has with the other lawyer on the case, Simpson’s longtime Miami-based attorney, Yale Galanter.
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