By DPA
Las Vegas : OJ Simpson is to stand trial for alleged kidnapping and armed robbery in a case that could finally see him serving a jail term, 12 years after he was sensationally acquitted of the murder of his estranged wife and her friend.
Las Vegas Township Justice of the Peace Joseph Bonaventure ruled that there was sufficient evidence to put Simpson and two associates on trial for 12 charges stemming from an incident in September in a Las Vegas hotel.
“This is what we expected,” Simpson told reporters after the decision. “If I have any disappointment it’s that I wish a jury was here. As always, I rely on the jury system.”
Bonaventure emphasised that his decision rested on a far lighter burden of proof than would be needed to convict Simpson in the criminal trial.
He said the defence had raised legitimate doubts about the credibility of prosecution witnesses, former felons who had agreed to testify against Simpson in return for lesser charges, but that these doubts were “not so incredible or implausible” to keep the case from a jury.
The defendants were ordered to arraignment on Nov 28, but the trial is not expected to start before next year.
According to prosecutors, Simpson, 60, seized $80,000 worth of sports memorabilia from two dealers while two associates threatened them with guns. If convicted, Simpson could face decades in prison up to a possible life sentence.
The case is sure to become a major media event, some 12 years after Simpson’s controversial murder acquittal.
Simpson has denied that any guns were used, but the last witness on the stand Wednesday refuted that claim. Alfred Beardsley, one of the dealers trying to sell the disputed items, testified that Simpson entered his hotel room at the head of a gun-toting group to recover the memorabilia Simpson believed had been stolen from him.
“He was very emotional,” testified Beardsley. “I wanted to make it clear that I did not steal that property.”
Two of Simpson’s friends, Walter Alexander and Michael “Spencer” McClinton, who accompanied him to the hotel room, refuted his statements that no weapons were used during the incident. McClinton testified to having “carried a gun at the request” of Simpson, who even asked to see McClinton’s concealed-weapons permit.
Alexander testified that McClinton waved his gun so wildly that Simpson told him to calm down.
Simpson’s lawyers sought to discredit both witnesses with references to their criminal pasts.
“Under any interpretation of the facts in this case, there is not a shred of evidence that supports a kidnapping charge,” said Simpson attorney Yale Galanter in closing arguments.