Simpson, OJ - Get's a "Hail Mary" legal hearing...
O.J. Simpson says bad legal advice put him in prison
O.J. Simpson accuses his former lawyer of having a conflict of interest and of failing to mount an effective defense in his trial.
By Matt Smith, CNN - Monday May 13, 2013
(CNN)-- Disgraced football legend O.J. Simpson is scheduled to return to a Las Vegas courtroom Monday in a bid to get his robbery, assault and kidnapping convictions thrown out.
The one-time Heisman Trophy winner and Buffalo Bills halfback is more than four years into a 33-year prison term and is asking for a new trial. In court papers, he's arguing that bad legal advice led to his arrest and conviction in a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers.
![](http://i.imgur.com/mXxo4Qm.jpg)
OJ Simpson is starting an appeal against his robbery conviction
Simpson not only accuses his old lawyer, Yale Galanter, of having a conflict of interest and of failing to mount an effective defense in his trial. He also says Galanter told him before that confrontation that he was within his rights to take back property he believed had been stolen from him, "so long as there would be no trespass and no physical force used against the persons with the property."
![](http://i.imgur.com/rUYLlkG.jpg)
Simpson is serving a 33-year term for robbery, kidnapping and assault
Simpson, 65, was convicted of leading a group of associates into a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino and using threats, guns and force to take back the items from the two dealers.
"Simpson also contends that Galanter did not advise Simpson that carrying out the plan could subject him to criminal charges, regardless of the ownership of the property," his new lawyers wrote in seeking a new trial.
The Nevada Supreme Court already upheld his conviction in 2010. Prosecutors have called the new attempt to reverse his conviction "without merit," and Galanter is quoted in court papers as telling the judge in the original trial that he spoke to Simpson only after the confrontation.
"Other than Simpson's bare allegations, the record does not support any conflict of interest," prosecutors wrote in response to Simpson's claims.
Galanter could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.
Simpson's October 2008 conviction came on the anniversary of his famous acquittal on murder charges in the 1994 deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Though cleared of criminal charges, a civil jury later slapped him with a $33 million wrongful-death judgment, and lawyers for the Goldman family have doggedly pursued his assets.
His current sentence leaves him eligible for parole in 2017.
A timeline of major legal developments involving O.J. Simpson:
— June 12, 1994: O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend Ronald Goldman are found dead in Los Angeles. Simpson is arrested after a widely televised freeway chase.
— Oct. 3, 1995: Simpson is acquitted of two counts of murder after the "trial of the century" in Los Angeles.
— February 1997: Simpson is found liable for damages in a civil wrongful death lawsuit and ordered to pay $33.5 million to Goldman, Nicole Brown Simpson estates.
—Oct. 24, 2001: Simpson is cleared of all charges in a Florida case involving an alleged road-rage incident.
— Sept. 13, 2007: Simpson and five men confront memorabilia dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong in a Palace Station hotel room in Las Vegas. Middleman Thomas Riccio hides audio recorder in the room. Beardsley, Fromong report an armed robbery. Two of the five men later testify they had guns.
— September 2007: Simpson and five other men are arrested and charged with felonies including kidnapping, armed robbery. Four co-defendants later take plea deals and testify for the prosecution. Each is convicted of at least one felony and sentenced to probation.
— Sept. 12, 2008: Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart go on trial in Clark County District Court. Simpson is represented by Miami attorney Yale Galanter and Las Vegas lawyer Gabriel Grasso.
— Oct. 3, 2008: Jury finds Simpson, Stewart guilty on all 12 charges including kidnapping, armed robbery, conspiracy, coercion, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon.
— December 2008: Judge Jackie Glass sentences Simpson to nine to 33 years in prison. Stewart gets 7½ to 27 years. Simpson is imprisoned at the state prison in Lovelock.
— April-May 2009: Galanter and Grasso split. Galanter and Las Vegas lawyer Malcolm LaVergne appeal Simpson's conviction to Nevada Supreme Court.
— August 2009: A California Superior Court judge orders several items taken from the Las Vegas hotel room returned to Simpson. An attorney for the Goldman estate gets other items to auction.
— September 2010: Nevada Supreme Court denies Simpson's appeal.
— October 2010: Nevada Supreme Court grants Stewart a new trial, says Simpson's fame tainted trial and Stewart should have been tried separately.
— January 2011: Stewart avoids retrial, pleading guilty to felony robbery and conspiracy. He is sentenced to probation and house arrest, and freed from prison after serving more than two years.
— March 2011: LaVergne asks the full seven-member state Supreme Court to reconsider appeal. Galanter not part of the case.
— May 2011: Glass resigns from Clark County District Court to become a TV judge, replacing Nancy Grace on "Swift Justice with Jackie Glass."
— May 17, 2011: Nevada Supreme Court rejects LaVergne's bid to reconsider Simpson appeal without comment.
— March-April 2012: Grasso sues Galanter in federal court in Las Vegas, alleging nonpayment of fees; Galanter sues Grasso, another lawyer and LaVergne in Florida state court, alleging defamation and slander.
— May 2012: New Simpson appellate lawyer Patricia Palm files writ of habeas corpus with Clark County District Court, seeking Simpson's release from prison and reversal of his conviction, alleging ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. Veteran criminal lawyer Ozzie Fumo later joins the case.
— September 2012: Nevada Supreme Court rejects Palm's bid to disqualify the Clark County district attorney's office from handling the case because the current district attorney, Steve Wolfson, is married to Glass.
— October 2012: Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell agrees to hear 19 of 22 grounds for relief, schedules five-day hearings to begin Monday.
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/timeline-major-events-o-j-legal-life-080910436.html