Simpson refused plea deal of less time in jail

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Simpson was offered a deal for less prison time than the nine- to 33-year prison terms the graying former football star was sentenced to on Friday for kidnapping and assaulting two sports memorabilia dealers with a deadly weapon.

“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.

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{ 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.

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.”

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.

Roger called it “a fair and just sentence under the circumstances” and said during a news conference that because the crimes were considered violent felonies, Simpson and Stewart won’t be eligible for good time credits to lessen the minimum sentences.

The prosecutor said he did not expect they would immediately be released when they do seek parole.

Galanter and Bryson said they intend to appeal their clients’ convictions. But they postponed plans to file notices of appeal Friday, after Glass asked them attend a Tuesday morning restitution hearing concerning the items stolen from memorabilia peddlers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.

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