Former NFL star and Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson testified in a Nevada court room today that there was no prior talk of guns and he was only trying to retrieve his property when he and five other men stormed a Las Vegas hotel and held people against their will.
"It was my stuff; I followed what I thought was the law," Simpson told the court, according to USA Today. "I didn't break into anybody's room and didn't attack or muscle anyone."
The now 65-year-old Simpson is seeking a new trial on the robbery and kidnapping conviction that landed him a nine to 33-year sentence in 2008 by arguing he received grossly ineffective counseling from his then-attorney Yale Galanter.
Simpson also testified that Galanter had repeatedly advised him that he was legally within his rights to go to the hotel and take back the items in question as long as no-one trespassed and no force was used. Simpson likewise maintained that it was Galanter who convinced him not to testify at his original trial, nor did he mention to him a proposed plea deal on the part of prosecutors that could have gotten him a lesser sentence.
Simpson, who USA Today reported looked older and heavier than when he was jailed five years ago, is expected to answer questions from both his legal team and prosecutors on each of the 19 counts he was convicted of over the course of the five-day proceedings.
Back in 1995, in what still is known as the trial of the century, Simpson was acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. A civil jury in a wrongful death lawsuit later found him liable for their deaths and awarded their families more than $33 million in damages.
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