LAS VEGAS: A judge set O.J. Simpson's bail at $125,000 today
after he was charged with armed robbery of sports memorabilia
and kidnapping. The former football star, looking somber, posted
less than $19,000 and he is expected to return to his home in
Miami tonight.
Mr. Simpson, 60, charged with 10 felonies and one gross misdemeanor
in connection with the robbery in a hotel room last Thursday,
appeared for less than 10 minutes in Clark County Justice Court
wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and orange plastic sandals. He
did not enter a plea today but he acknowledged the charges against
him, agreed to have no contact with any of the witnesses or
co-defendants in the case and was granted the $125,000 bail
that his lawyers negotiated with District Attorney David Roger
prior to the hearing.
"There will be no direct contact, no indirect contact with
anyone whatsoever," Judge Joe M. Bonaventure said. "If you see
them walking, you cross the street to the other side."
Mr. Simpson is not permitted to leave the country and was
required to surrender his passport, although he will be allowed
to travel in the United States.
Mr. Simpson is due to return to court on Oct. 22, at which
time the judge may bind the case over and move it to Clark County
District Court. His lawyer, Yale Galanter, said after the hearing
that Mr. Simpson would not agree to a plea bargain "as long
as I'm representing him," virtually assuring a trial that would
likely start late in 2008.
Legal experts said they were a little surprised by the bail
amount. Mr. Simpson was required to put down only 15 percent
to be freed.
"Did I think it would higher? Yes," said David Chesnoff, a
Las Vegas lawyer who has represented Martha Stewart and Mike
Tyson, among others. "But in reality, it doesn't matter if it's
$500,000. If he decides to run away, he decides to run away.
But he's had success in the criminal justice system, so he's
less likely to be afraid than anybody."
Mr. Simpson stands accused of gathering a group of men, some
with guns, and bursting into a room at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino
to take almost $100,000 in items from two memorabilia collectors
who thought they were assembled to meet a potential buyer. Mr.
Simpson told police he was retrieving items stolen from him,
although he acknowledged he also departed with several items
that had no connection to him.
Among the charges against Mr. Simpson is an armed kidnapping
count that carries a potential life sentence. Three other men
have been charged with 10 of the same 11 charges.
While brief and serious, today's hearing was carefully stage-managed
as court officials were mindful of the intense media interest
in the case. For instance, a marshal was instructed to seat
Marcia Clark, the former Los Angeles County deputy district
attorney who prosecuted Mr. Simpson in his 1995 murder trial,
on the opposite side of the courtroom from Mr. Simpson so that
she would not appear in photos or on television seated behind
the former athlete, a court spokesman, Michael Sommermeyer,
said. Ms. Clark, who is now a television legal analysts, failed
to convict Mr. Simpson of the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and
her friend.
Outside the downtown Las Vegas courthouse, the carnival was
in full force, with a man in a chicken costume holding up a
sign that read "Not This Time O.J." next to a man with one that
read "O.J. O.J. He Was Set Up."
