O.J. Simpson, the disgraced former football player, returns to court on Monday. The latest court appearance is an attempt to get his convictions for robbery, assault and kidnapping thrown out, according to CNN.
Simpson, 65, is currently more than four years into a 33-year prison sentence and is asking for a new trial. He argues, in court papers, that bad legal advice led to his conviction in a 2007 confrontation with dealers of sports memorabilia.
He accuses his previous lawyer, Yale Galanter, of having a conflict of interest in the case and failing to mount an effective defense at his trial. He also says that before the confrontation that occurred with the sports memorabilia dealers, Galanter advised him that he was within his rights to take back property he believed had been stolen from him, "so long as there would be no trespass and no physical force used against the persons with the property."
Simpson was convicted of leading a group of associates into a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino to take back items from the dealers using threats, guns and force.
"Simpson also contends that Galanter did not advise Simpson that carrying out the plan could subject him to criminal charges, regardless of the ownership of the property," his new lawyers wrote in papers seeking a new trial.
He blames Galanter for preventing him from testifying in his own defense.
"There was no evidence presented to adequately challenge the state's evidence of criminal intent and knowledge of the guns or the bad character evidence to which the jury was exposed," Simpson's appeal states.
The conviction has already been upheld once, in 2010, when the Nevada Supreme Court heard the case. The new attempt to reverse the conviction has been called "without merit" by prosecutors. Galanter is also quoted telling the judge in the original trial that he only spoke to Simpson after the confrontation had already occurred.
"Other than Simpson's bare allegations, the record does not support any conflict of interest," prosecutors wrote is response to Simpson's claims.
Simpson was convicted in 2008 on the anniversary of his acquittal on murder charges in the 1994 deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. While Simpson was cleared of criminal charges in the matter, he was served a wrongful-death judgment in a $33 million lawsuit brought about by the Goldman family.
His current sentence will make Simpson eligible for parole in 2017.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
