O.J. Simpson granted parole; he’ll be free as soon as October

O.J. Simpson has been granted parole and will be freed from prison as early as October, his parole board decided Thursday.

Four parole board members voted to grant him parole, saying he had community support, stable release plans and he was at a low risk to re-offend.

“Thank you, thank you,” Simpson told the board.

Simpson, 70, has served nine years of his 33-year sentence for 12 convictions stemming from an armed robbery involving two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room. Simpson hired men, two of whom had guns, to retrieve sports collectibles from two sellers in that Simpson claimed had stolen the items from him a decade earlier.

Simpson called the situation a “perfect storm” in his parole hearing Thursday. He said he’s “never pulled a gun on anybody in my life.”

“My crime was trying to retrieve for my family my own property,” Simpson told parole officials in a 2013 hearing concerning lesser charges. “Make no mistake, I would give it all back, to get these last five years back.”

The parole hearing is in Carson City, Nevada and Simpson needs four members of the board to vote to release him. If not, Simpson, inmate No. 1027820, will remain in the medium-security Lovelock Correctional Center. Simpson requested to live in Florida, though the parole board did not specify where in the state.

Before he was convicted, Simpson most recently lived in Miami, where his home has since been foreclosed. A longtime friend of Simpson, Tom Scotto, told USA Today that Simpson plans to stay with him temporarily in Naples, Florida before moving into his own place. Simpson could also want to later stay with his sister in Sacramento, California, Scotto said.

“I have four kids,” Simpson said when a parole officer asked why he wanted out of prison. “I’ve missed a lot of time with those kids.”

“I’ve done my time,” he added.

Following Simpson’s testimony to the board, his daughter Arnelle Simpson, spoke on his behalf. She was visibly emotional as she told the board that no one knows how much their family has been through.

“As a family we recognize he’s not the perfect man,” she said. “But as a man and a father he has done his best.”

“We just want him to come home,” she added.

Bruce Fromong, one of the robbery victims and a self-identified friend of Simpson, confirmed at the hearing that items in the robbery did belong to Simpson, though he said he was unaware of it at the time and had not personally stolen it from Simpson.

Fromong added Simpson did not deserve nine to 33 years for the crime, and told an emotional Simpson that if he called Fromong tomorrow asking him to pick him up from prison, Fromong would be there.

Simpson, an athlete and actor, became a controversial figure after he was charged with murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was found not guilty in the highly publicized 1995 trial, but two years later he was found liable in civil court for the deaths and ordered to pay $33.5 million to survivors including his children and the Goldman family.

Many have speculated that the stiff nine to 33-year sentence in Simpson’s armed robbery conviction were due to his past charges. A member of the parole board said most letters they received opposing Simpson’s parole cited the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, but that opposition would not be considered when they made their decision.

Information from Associated Press was included in this report.

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 11:02 AM with the headline "O.J. Simpson granted parole; he’ll be free as soon as October."