"Mr. Simpson wanted something just short of a public apology," Roger said. "We didn't think that was appropriate."
Roger did not offer specifics of the deal and Simpson's defense lawyers declined to discuss details.
"There was nothing that was palatable. Nothing acceptable," Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter said.
Co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart also rejected a deal that would have had him plead guilty to unspecified reduced charges in return for a promised sentence less than the 7 1/2 to 27 years he received, the prosecutor and defense lawyers said.
"It was a universal deal," said Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson. "Both defendants had to accept it. As we know, that didn't happen."
An emotional and hoarse Simpson said nothing about plea deals when he stood in shackles and blue jail garb and apologized before he was sentenced by Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass.
"In no way did I mean to hurt anybody, to steal anything from anyone," Simpson said, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it."
The judge said she was not convinced, and she denied that Simpson's acquittal in Los Angeles in the 1994 slaying of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, had any effect on a sentence that will make Simpson 70 years old before he is eligible for parole.
"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else. I want that to be perfectly clear to everybody," the judge said.
She called the evidence overwhelming, with the planning, confrontation and aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.
"You went to the room, and you took guns," Glass told Simpson. "You used force. You took property, whether it was yours or somebody else's. And in this state, that amounts to robbery, with use of a deadly weapon."
"And Mr. Stewart, you got caught up in something," the judge added. "I'm not sure how much you knew. But clearly Mr. Simpson knew."
Simpson and Stewart were each convicted Oct. 3 of 12 criminal charges, including the kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon which led to their sentences, and the armed robbery, conspiracy and burglary sentences that the judge folded in with the rest. Glass threw out two coercion charges.
