O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star whose copious legal woes have far overshadowed his prolific on-field accomplishments, is in the news again for attempting to get a new trial with regards to his armed robbery case.
In 2008, Simpson was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to a prison term that would be a minimum of nine years and a maximum of 33 years; he had originally been facing a lifetime imprisonment. The charges stemmed from a 2007 incident in which Simpson and a group of men broke into a sports memorabilia dealer's hotel room in Las Vegas and robbed them of Simpson-related items at gunpoint.
Simpson maintained that the items were stolen from him in the first place.
Now, Simpson is saying that the lawyer who initially represented him, Yale Galanter, sabotaged the case and had a "personal interest in preventing himself from being identified as a witness to the crimes and so misled Simpson," according to an ABCNews.com report.
Simpson is accusing Galanter now of knowing ahead of time Simpson's plan to get his memorabilia back, and met with him the night before the robbery to discuss a plan of action. Patricia Palm, Simpson's appeals court lawyer said, "To me, the claims are solid. I don't know how the court can't grant relief."
Simpson also claims that Galanter "vigorously discouraged" him from testifying and failed to inform him that prosecutors were willing to strike a deal with him that would net a minimum two-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.
The ABCNews.com report says there are 22 counts of conflict-of-interest and ineffective counsel charges, and that Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell has agreed to hear 19 of them.
John Mamot, who covered Simpson's murder trial said, "I don't think O.J. Simpson could ever get a fair trial, period, based on his reputation from California. But based on these allegations, if you took Joe Jones from the street and put him in the same situation, I think it would be possible he'd get a new trial."
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