OJ Simpson is free after serving sentence

OJ Simpson, the American football player turned movie star whose double murder trial shocked and divided America in the 1990s, is a completely free man after serving his probation period, police confirmed Tuesday.

Simpson, now 74, was released from jail in Nevada in 2017, where he had served nine years for armed robbery in a case involving sports memorabilia. He was scheduled to end his probation in February.

“The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners conducted an early discharge hearing for Mr. Simpson,” explained Nevada police spokesman Kim Yoko Smith.

“The decision to grant early release from parole was ratified on December 6, 2021. The Board granted credits for an amount equal to the remaining time of the sentence to reduce the sentence to time served.”

Simpson’s soap opera public life began as a prominent offensive running back in college football, winning the coveted Heisman Trophy for best player in the nation, which preceded a stellar career in the NFL.

It became a box office success for movies and commercials.

Then, in 1994, millions of Americans watched the Simpson chase on the roads of Southern California live on television. He was traveling aboard a white Bronco driven by a friend and followed by a police convoy, in an alleged attempt to flee from the alleged double murder of his ex-wife and a friend of hers.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 by a Los Angeles jury, in a case denounced by many as a media circus that became known as the “Trial of the Century,” starring high-profile attorneys and with a dramatic twist on whether the gloves found at the crime scene fit his hands.

The verdict was greeted with disbelief by many Americans, and opinion about the black athlete’s guilt was sharply divided on racial lines.

The case became the Emmy-winning FX television series “The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story,” which aired in 2016.

Simpson was found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil lawsuit and ordered to pay $ 33.5 million in damages to the family of Ron Goldman, who was stabbed to death along with Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

Simpson maintains his innocence and has always denied that he tried to flee during the famous manhunt, despite ignoring a deadline given by the police to turn himself in.

The former player told a Los Angeles police detective by phone during the slow-speed chase to “let everyone know that he was not running,” but was visiting Nicole’s grave.

A duffel bag containing Simpson’s passport and cash, as well as a pistol, found by police in the car led many to question his intentions, however the prosecution never produced them as evidence.

Later, Simpson wrote a book entitled “If I had done it,” which provided a hypothetical description of the murders. (I)