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O.J. Simpson faces armed robbery and kidnapping charges

O.J. Simpson was due to step back into a courtroom yesterday to face armed robbery charges and lingering questions that have not gone away in more than a decade.

In the former NFL football star's mind, according to a close friend, the Las Vegas charges have roots in Simpson's acquittal in the slayings of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

"He believes he's being tried for that now," said Tom Scotto, 45, a North Miami Beach, Florida, auto body shop owner whose Las Vegas wedding brought together the men arrested for the alleged Sept. 13 armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers last month.

Simpson and two codefendants face 12 charges, including kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and coercion. A kidnapping conviction could result in a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery conviction could mean mandatory prison time.

Before a jury gets a chance to decide Simpson's fate, a Las Vegas justice of the peace will be asked to determine after a two-day hearing if there is enough evidence to bind Simpson and codefendants Clarence "C.J." Stewart and Charles Ehrlich over for trial in state court.

No one disputes that Stewart, Ehrlich and former codefendants Michael McClinton, Walter Alexander and Charles Cashmore went with Simpson and California collectibles broker Tom Riccio to meet memorabilia dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.

Simpson has maintained that he wanted to retrieve items that he said were stolen from him by a former agent, including the suit he wore the day he was acquitted in Los Angeles.

Riccio, 45, of Los Angeles, has said he told the FBI there three weeks ahead of time that Simpson wanted to take back from Beardsley a collection of items that Simpson also believed included his Hall of Fame certificate and a photo of himself with former FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover.

Authorities have said many more items were taken from the room, including football game balls signed by Simpson, Joe Montana lithographs, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and Duke Snider, photos of Simpson with the Heisman Trophy and framed awards and plaques.

Simpson and the others are likely to be bound over for trial "because the burden of proof is such that all they have to show is that some evidence suggests a crime occurred," said Tom Pitaro, a veteran Las Vegas defense lawyer who teaches trial advocacy at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The prosecution's case is not without weaknesses, including witnesses with checkered backgrounds and defense contentions that the men who turned against Simpson lied to win generous plea bargains for themselves.
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