O.J. Simpson was denied a new trial by a judge in Nevada. His conviction for kidnapping, armed robbery and related charges was upheld. Simpson requested a new trial on grounds that his lawyer didn’t provide him with sufficient counsel.
J. Kelly Strader is a law professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. In an email to the Christian Science Monitor, he explained exactly how dubious Simpson’s request for an appeal was.
“It is always an uphill battle to obtain a reversal of a conviction based upon ineffective assistance of counsel,” he says. “Not only do you have to show that the counsel was incompetent, but you also have to show that this likely affected the outcome at trial. Whereas here, there seems to be substantial evidence of guilt.”
Judge Linda Marie Bell determined that nothing about the case was erroneous enough to cause the court to even question the validity of O.J. Simpson’s conviction. This must come as a slight bit of relief to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman–O.J.’s ex-wife and her friend. Most people believe he was responsible for their deaths even though he was acquitted of any wrongdoing during his murder trial. At least they can perhaps find some peace knowing Simpson is serving time in prison–even though it’s for another crime.
O.J. Simpson’s conviction for the crimes he now finds himself imprisoned for came 13 years to the day after his acquittal in the deaths of both Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was sentenced to between 9 and 33 years. He was, however, granted parole on some of those convictions this past July. This means he could be a free man in four more years.
Simpson can continue to request a new trial, but it isn’t very likely to be approved. In fact, most people believe he’s hit the end of the road where this case is concerned.
“Realistically, this looks like the end of the road for OJ,” Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson said via email. “I read the entire opinion: The judge set forth why she believed he was guilty and that he definitely knew guns would be involved. After that, any errors that were raised were seen as not prejudicial. I guess this is how the OJ saga ends.”
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