O.J. Simpson appeals Vegas armed robbery conviction

[May 27, 2009]  LAS VEGAS (AP) -- O.J. Simpson has appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court to overturn his convictions for armed robbery and kidnapping during a a Las Vegas hotel room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers.

The appeal arrived Tuesday at the Supreme Court in Carson City.

The former football star, actor and advertising pitchman asks the high court to throw out his conviction on grounds that include judicial misconduct, insufficient evidence, a lack of racial diversity on the jury and errors in sentencing and jury instructions.

The document criticizes the trial judge, Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass, and accuses prosecutors of improperly asking questions about allegations of witness intimidation in front of the jury.

"Cumulative error ... was so egregious and prejudicial that the defense could not get a fair trial," Simpson attorneys Yale Galanter and Malcolm LaVergne wrote in seeking the reversal.

Appeals in Nevada can take more than a year. Supreme Court spokesman Bill Gang said there was no way to know when the justices might rule.

"The amount of time it takes depends on the number and complexity of the issues raised," Gang said.

Simpson, 61, maintains that he was trying to retrieve property stolen from him when he and five other men confronted the two sports collectibles peddlers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room in September 2007.

Simpson and a co-defendant were convicted last October and sentenced in December. Simpson got nine to 33 years in state prison. He is housed at a prison in Lovelock, about 90 miles east of Reno.

He was acquitted in 1995 of charges he murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. But he later was held liable for the deaths in a civil court case.

___

On the Net:

http://www.nevadajudiciary.us/index.php/
view-documents-and-forms.html
?funcselect&id106

[Associated Press; By KEN RITTER]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.