O.J. Simpson was sentenced on Friday to as much as 33 years behind bars for an armed robbery caper over sports memorabilia at the Palace Station Casino in Las Vegas last year. He won't be eligible for parole until he's served at least 9 years.
"The Juice", 61, said in his rambling apology at his sentencing: "I just wanted my personal things. I was stupid. I'm sorry. I didn't know I was doing anything illegal. I thought I was confronting friends. I thought I was retrieving my things. I didn't mean to hurt anybody, and I didn't mean to steal anything."
In September 2007, Simpson showed up at a hotel room with five thugs and they seized at gunpoint thousands of dollars worth of football memorabilia from two collectors. Simpson claimed he was retrieving his own property, yet among items taken were memorabilia that did not and had never belonged to him.
He was convicted of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery. Before his trial, he had rejected a plea bargain that could have landed him behind bars for only one to three years.
In sentencing the Juice, Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass rejected defense arguments that Simpson acted without criminal intent and she suggested that he was his own worst enemy.
"While at this case bail hearing, I said to Mr. Simpson that I didn't know if he was arrogant or ignorant or both. Then during the trial and through this proceeding, I got the answer: it was both."
The judge said the evidence in the case was overwhelming: "Everything in this case was on tape," Glass said. "The evidence in this case was overwhelming. You went to the room. You took guns. You used force. You took property, and in this state, that amounts to robbery with the use of a deadly weapon."
Denise Brown, who is the sister of O.J.'s late wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, believes he is guilty of murdering her sister those many years ago. Outside the courthouse, she spoke about the justice that had finally come to OJ.
"It is very sad to think that an individual who had it all, an amazing career, beautiful wife and two precious children has ended up like this," Denise Brown said in a statement following the sentencing.
