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On parole: OJ Simpson freed under cover of night but stays silent on what comes next

OJ Simpson signs his release forms at the  Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada just a few hours ago. - NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
OJ Simpson signs his release forms at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada just a few hours ago. - NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

OJ Simpson, the former American football star and double murder suspect, was freed on parole in the early hours of Sunday morning after serving nine years in prison for an armed confrontation over sporting memorabilia.

Dressed in prison-issued denim and wearing a baseball cap, he slipped out of Lovelock Correctional Centre in northern Nevada at eight minutes past midnight.

As he walked out, he was told by prison staff, "Don't come back" to which he replied, "I don't intend to."

He was met by a driver.

Tom Scotto, a close friend of Simpson who lives in Naples, Florida, later told the Associated Press by text message that he was with, but gave no further detail on his plans.

Prison officials said the early hours departure was all part of a plan to avoid unwanted publicity.

The US is gripped by feverish speculation about what comes next for a man whose charisma once catapulted him from setting records as a Buffalo Bills running back into Hollywood, before the killing of his ex-wife and her friend put him at the centre of one of the country’s most sensational murder trials.

Simpson, 70, has said he wants to move back to Florida, where he lived before his armed robbery conviction.

OJ Simpson reacts after learning he was granted parole - Credit: EPA
OJ Simpson reacts after learning he was granted parole Credit: EPA

And his lawyer said he planned to get up to speed with new technology – such as buying an iPhone – and getting reacquainted with his family.

“He wants to eat seafood, he wants to eat steak," Malcolm LaVergne told ABC’s Good Morning. “He wants to enjoy the very simple pleasures that he hasn't enjoyed in nine years.”

Mr Scotto said he had invited Simpson to stay at his home in Florida as he readjusted to life on the outside.

However, officials in Florida said they had not received the paperwork needed under the terms of Simpson’s parole.

The state’s attorney general has signalled her opposition to his return, saying that Floridians were aware of his “wanton disregard for the lives of others”.

"Our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal," said Pam Bondi in a letter urging the state’s corrections system to oppose his return.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

The televised trial was a media sensation and divided America, often along racial lines.

He was later found liable for their deaths in a civil case in 1997 and ordered to pay the victims' families $33.5 million.

In 2007, he was arrested again after leading five men – two of them carrying handguns - to a Las Vegas casino to retrieve memorabilia he said had been stolen from him.

Simpson said he did not know anyone was armed but was sentenced to 33 years in prison.​

Now Simpson is free, he will face fresh demands from the Goldman estate to pay the money owed from the civil case.

David Cook, the estate’s lawyer, told CNN: “The good news for me is he's getting out. The bad news for him is I'm in good health. I'm good to go.”

The Juice

Simpson was an American football star who broke records during his prime playing as a running back for the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers in the 1970s. That success meant he was in demand after retiring, becoming a familiar figure on television as well as acting in in films.

His sporting achievements saw him inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

By then he had met and married his second wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. They had two children together before she filed for divorce in 1992 after he was investigated a number of times for domestic violence.

OJ Simpson and wife Nicole Brown Simpson - Credit: AP
OJ Simpson and wife Nicole Brown Simpson. She filed for divorce in 1992. Credit: AP

Trial of the century

Mrs Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found outside her home in 1994. They had been stabbed to death.

Simpson was questioned and later ordered to turn himself into police. However, he fled and the ensuing low-speed police chase – during which a convoy of vehicles followed Simpson in a white Ford Bronco down Interstate 405 – was broadcast live on television.

It set the scene for an extraordinary court case which gripped America. Some 100 million viewers were watching when a jury finally found Simpson not guilty at the end of an eight-month trial in October 1995.

Although the prosecution had an overwhelming amount of DNA evidence, the defence was able to argue that mistakes made by investigators may have contaminated the crime scene. Simpson was also unable to fit his hand inside one glove found at the scene and another found near his home.

Civil lawsuit

Mrs Simpson's family never accepted the verdict and brought a case against Simpson for wrongful death.

After four months, a jury awarded the victims’ families $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages, holding Simpson responsible for their deaths.

Las Vegas robbery

Simpson’s final downfall came in 2008, 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife.

The star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for assembling a gang of five men a year earlier for help seizing game balls, plaques and photos from a hotel and casino complex. 

Simpson always insisted he was merely reclaiming mementos that had been stolen from him.

He was sentenced to spend 33 years in prison with a possibility of parole after nine years – a stiff sentence his supporters said was payback for the not guilty verdict in the murder trial.

Parole hearing of the century 

Simpson served his time at the Simpson Lovelock Correctional Centre in Nevada, where he was known as inmate 1027820.  In 2013 his good behaviour in prison helped win him parole for the less serious convictions.

That left the Nevada Parole Board of Commissioners to consider on July 20 this year the more serious offences of assault with a deadly weapon and four weapons charges. 

The hearing was broadcast live on television and the board ruled parole could be granted.

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