Lamar Odom has hired famed O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro to represent him following his arrest late last week on DUI charges, according to TMZ.
Odom, 33, was taken into custody just before 4 a.m. last Friday on the 101 Freeway near San Fernando after cops allegedly spotted him driving too slowly and he subsequently failed a series of field sobriety tests. According to TMZ, Odom refused to submit to any chemical testing, but police indicated in their report "he showed obvious signs of intoxication."
Now comes word Odom has aligned himself with Shapiro, a high-powered West Coast attorney with a reputation for making the best plea bargain deals for his clients. TMZ speculates that Odom will probably plead no-contest to the DUI charge and be given probation, meaning he'll be required to attend alcohol education classes and lose his license for at a least a year, an automatic penalty for any California driver who does not submit to a blood-alcohol test upon police request.
The website also reports that Odom's mother-in-law, Kris Jenner, is also thought to be the one placing him in Shapiro's hands, given she has used him numerous times in the past for legal issues regarding Kardashian family members, most recently son Robert Jr.s criminal battery and theft case.
The move to try and at least put his latest debacle behind him is seen by some as a positive step for Odom, who just last week was called "beyond toxic" by an NBA GM and a player whose career is "likely over."
"Just going by what he is giving you on the court, he would have been a risk anyway, maybe someone you give a partial guarantee to just to see if he can turn things around," the unidentified team exec told reporters. "But with the circus that's around him off the court now, no way. I think that's the end of Lamar Odom in the NBA. It's a shame."
Days before his arrest, TMZ reported Khloe Kardashian's husband was being classified as missing by family members after he went more than 72 hours without making contact with any of them or responding to their overtures. The website added, that for at least the last two years, Odom has had a"hardcore drug problem" and at some point last year spent three weeks in a rehab treatment center before abruptly bolting the facility.
Kris Jenner's ' ex-husband, the late Robert Kardashian, also worked on the O.J. Simpson defense following his arrest and subsequent acquittal in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, even though she was thought to be Brown Simpson's best friend.
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