Bruce Fromong, one of two dealers allegedly robbed, said he had expected to meet with an anonymous buyer on Sept. 13, when Simpson arrived with others "in a military invasion fashion" and shouted that the items belonged to him.
"O.J. was screaming, 'This is all my s---. This all belongs to me. You stole this from me. Let's pack up. Let's get out of here,'" Fromong said.
Simpson, 60, and two co-defendants are charged with robbery, kidnapping and other offenses. Thursday's hearing was to determine whether there is enough evidence to take them to trial.
During an aggressive cross-examination, Simpson attorney Gabriel Grasso sought to show that Fromong was less traumatized than excited about the chance at a big payday at the expense of Simpson.
Fromong acknowledged that he has gone to the online auction site eBay in an effort to peddle items he has dubbed as "identical to the items O.J. stole from me!"
He also said that when he suffered a heart attack days after the incident, he called a TV show from his hospital bed but said he just wanted to make sure he wasn't lumped together with "unsavory characters" in the case.
He also confirmed that he has discussed the idea of a book with various people.
Grasso also asked Fromong whether he called the television show "Inside Edition" before contacting police.
"Nine-one-one was already being called," Fromong said.
Grasso also noted that in his statement to police Fromong said Simpson had told the others: "Get my ... . Leave the other stuff alone."
Fromong, who testified he has known Simpson since the early 1990s, said the confrontation lasted no more than five or six minutes and ended with the group stuffing hundreds of items into pillowcases and leaving the Palace Station hotel-casino.
Fromong said some of the items had nothing to do with Simpson but were lithographs of football great Joe Montana and items signed by baseball stars Duke Snider and Pete Rose that he thought he could sell.
At one point, as everything was being packed up, Fromong said he told Simpson: "O.J., those are my Joe Montana lithos.
"I said, 'O.J., that's my stuff. That doesn't have anything to do with anything."
Throughout the confrontation, Fromong said, one man pointed a gun at his face and told him at one point: "I'll shoot your a--."
"I wasn't cowering in a corner, but having a gun pointed at me is an uncomfortable feeling," he said.
Fromong told how he and Simpson met in the early 1990s when Fromong and another memorabilia dealer, Mike Gilbert, formed a company, "Locker 32," using the number on Simpson's football jersey, to sell items on his behalf.
Shortly before the hotel confrontation, Fromong said, memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley told him he had several Simpson-related items to sell to an anonymous buyer, including the suit Simpson wore when he was acquitted of murder. Beardsley arranged the meeting, which Fromong thought would be with an anonymous buyer, he said.
At one point, Fromong said he thought the Simpson material for sale could fetch as much as $100,000 at retail. But he also said, "I have always believed much of this stuff should go back to O.J.'s family."
Thomas Riccio, a memorabilia dealer who captured the events on a digital recorder, testified he set up the meeting that ultimately led to felony charges against Simpson. He later sold a copy of the recording to a tabloid Web site before handing it over to police.
Like Fromong, Riccio said he hoped to make money off Simpson. It was only Simpson, Riccio said, who didn't want any money. He just wanted to retrieve memorabilia from his storied football career that his family could have as keepsakes.
"A lot of people forget the fact that O.J. was one of the greatest football players," Riccio said.
He said Simpson not only wanted his stuff back, but was interested in staging a reality show documenting the recovery. But when he told FBI agents in Los Angeles about their plans, he said, they "put their heads in their hands" and refused to get involved.
FBI documents obtained by The Associated Press last week confirm the agency was told of the plan by Riccio three weeks before it happened.
Fromong and Riccio were among eight witnesses prosecutors expected to call. The hearing was to continue Friday.
Beardsley, who has been in custody in California on a parole violation, has been transferred to a Las Vegas jail and is expected to testify, defense lawyers said.
In Simpson's mind, according to a close friend, the Las Vegas charges are rooted in the former football star being acquitted in the 1994 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, Fla., auto body shop owner.
Simpson has maintained that he wanted to retrieve items he knew had been stolen from him, including the suit Fromong mentioned.
Simpson and co-defendants Clarence "C.J." Stewart and Charles Ehrlich 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.
Source: www.cinema-pedia.com
Friday, November 9, 2007
Man Testifies O.J. Burst Into Hotel Room
Thursday, October 25, 2007
New Charges Filed in O.J. Simpson Case
The revised complaint also drops charges against Walter Alexander and Charles Cashmore, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to reduced charges.
Alexander, Simpson's golfing buddy, and Cashmore, at times a day laborer, disc jockey and bartender, have agreed to testify at a preliminary hearing against the former football star and the other men who went to a Las Vegas casino hotel room on Sept. 13 to retrieve items that Simpson said belonged to him.
The memorabilia taken from the hotel room included 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, together valued at as much as $100,000, according to police reports.
The revised complaint increases to 12 the number of charges against Simpson, Clarence Stewart, Michael McClinton and Charles Ehrlich. The four are scheduled to appear for the preliminary hearing Nov. 8 on felonies including kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and coercion and one gross misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime. A kidnapping conviction alone could result in a sentence of life in prison with parole.
Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter said Wednesday that he understood McClinton was accepting a plea deal, including an agreement to plead guilty to robbery without the use of a gun.
"It's all the same," Galanter said. "Same prosecutor. Same plea deal. And they're still giving away the courthouse."
McClinton, 49, was scheduled to appear Monday before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure where he was expected to waive his preliminary hearing, court officials said.
McClinton's lawyer, William Terry, declined comment "other than to confirm that the matter's been placed on calendar."
The new coercion charges allege that the men threatened collectibles dealer Bruce Fromong and took his cell phone, while taking a baseball cap and sunglasses at gunpoint from memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley.
Conviction on felony coercion carries a sentence of up to six years in prison.
Ehrlich's lawyer, John Moran Jr., complained Wednesday that the revised complaint contained wholesale changes in prosecutors' theories of the crimes and was filed so late it put defense lawyers at a disadvantage.
"It violates due process and fair play for us, this far down the road with the preliminary hearing set," Moran said.
Galanter, said his client "is not guilty and we continue to say he is not guilty of any crime." Galanter added that he looked forward to cross-examining Alexander and Cashmore.
Stewart's lawyer, Jose Pallares, denied allegations in the revised complaint that Simpson and Stewart conspired to persuade the others to tell authorities that no guns were used in the confrontation.
According to their lawyers and police reports, Alexander and Cashmore can testify that guns were brought to the Palace Station casino hotel room. Simpson, who lives in Miami, has maintained no guns were involved and he did not tell anyone to bring guns.
The complaint names Thomas Riccio, who is not charged in the case, and describes the role the California collectibles broker played in arranging the meeting between Simpson, Fromong and Beardsley.
Riccio's lawyer, Ryan Okabe of Redondo Beach, Calif., said Clark County District Attorney David Roger has promised Riccio immunity from prosecution. Riccio also has provided authorities with an audio tape he said he recorded during the encounter.
Riccio, Cashmore and Alexander are expected to be key witnesses for the prosecution at the preliminary hearing, when Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure will decide whether there is enough evidence to send the case to trial in state court.
Alexander pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony conspiracy to commit robbery, and Roger said he would seek a suspended sentence, which could get Alexander probation instead of one to six years in prison.
Cashmore pleaded guilty to felony accessory to robbery. He could get probation or up to one to five years in prison at sentencing, according to his agreement with the district attorney.
Sentencing for both men will come after an April 15 status check.
Source: www.cinema-pedia.com