Granted parole today starting Oct. 1 from a Nevada prison, 70-year-old O.J. Simpson rambled before the four-member parole board, talking about what he learned from his nine years at the Lovelock Correctional Facility. While expected to grant parole after nearly nine years in prison, the parole board asked Simpson what he learned most in prison. Simpson said he learned most from “alternative to violence” training, something that helped him resolve disputes among other inmates, especially when thing heated up in the softball league. Simpson was asked to recount what happened at the Las Vegas hotel room in 2007 where he was charged and convicted of 13 counts of armed robbery and hostage taking, trying to reclaim memorabilia from some former friends who stole and tried to sell O.J.’s personal items, including family photographs with his mother and celebrity friends.
Labeled a model prisoner over the last nine years, Simpson had no problems recounting the 2007 incident in which he regretted taking part in an effort to get back what he called “stolen property.” ”I would never, ever pull and weapon said O.J., insisting that he was a nice guy, never seeking violent confrontation. “I was always a good guy, but could have been a better Christian, and my commitment to change is to be a better Christian,” said Simpson, recalling how he organized Baptist services at Lovelock. Taking the “alternative to violence” course in prison was the most important learning during the last nine years. “The most important course anybody in this prison can take because it teaches you how to deal with conflict through conversation,” said O.J., telling the Parole Board with a straight face that it was never his character engage in violent confrontations on the streets or in his family.
No one on the parole board asked O.J. about his well-documented arrests for domestic abuse against his deceased ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson. Simpson was charged in 1994 with stabbing to death his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. “I had some problems with fidelity in my life, but I’ve always been a guy that pretty much got along with everybody,” said O.J., totally ignoring his multiple arrests for beating up Nicole. Nevada’s parole board didn’t want to get into O.J. well-documented past but the hearing showed a man utterly clueless about his past behavior. “I was always a good guy . . .” O.J. told the Board, knowing his history of domestic abuse. When evaluating an inmate’s parole, the Board had to weigh the likelihood of prisoners repeating past violent acts. Learning and awareness are key for parole board members deciding to grant parole.
When you consider O.J. showed no awareness let alone remorse for committing past acts of domestic abuse, you’d think that would give the Board pause, turning O.J. loose Oct. 1. Advocating for his parole, Simpson’s daughter from his first marriage Arnelle called her father her “best friend and rock,” asking the Board to return O.J. back to his family. “No one really knows how much we have been through, this ordeal in the last nine years,” said Arnelle, telling the Board “he didn’t make the right decision” when it came to the Las Vegas robbery. “We just want him to come home,” said Arnelle. “This has been truly hard . . . I know that he is remorseful,” yet O.J. never expressed regret to the Goldman family, after losing a 2006 wrongful death suit and $33 million judgment for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Goldman’s family has agonized over Ron’s death since 1994.
While not part of Parole Board hearing, Ron Goldman’s father Fred and sister Kim expressed feelings to the media before the hearing. “Ron never gets to spend his life doing what he wanted to do,” said Fred. “I think his whole history of violence, ignoring the law, no respect for the law, no remorse for virtually anything he’s ever done is an indication of who he is as a person,” said Fred, disagreeing with the Parole Board who granted O.J. parole. Nothing from the 1995 O.J. Trial was admissible in any Nevada proceeding on charges related to his 2007 hotel robbery. If the Parole Board recognized O.J.’s complete denial over his past history of domestic abuse, they wouldn’t have granted parole. Sticking to only O.J. record at Lovelock and relevant testimony, O.J.’s past life wasn’t deemed inadmissible. Fred and Kim will be forced to endue the indignity of O.J.’s Oct. 1 release.
Telling O.J. he’ll be subject to strict parole conditions, the Board unanimously approved his release, not knowing or believing the man who single-handedly started reality TV will be back in the media spotlight Oct. 1, if not before. Whether admitted to or not, Simpson could never live, as he wished, a quiet life after his parole. Parole Board admitted that they’ve never seen a bigger media presence at the televised hearing. Expecting things to come, the tabloid media expects to have a field day following O.J. around after his release Oct. 1. O.J.’s friend Tom Scotto hoped O.J would want “to keep a low profile, to be with his kids, be with his family, play golf,” something so unrealistic, so imaginary, so misguided it won’t happen. Starved for attention—and cash—after nine years behind bars, expect O.J. to milk the media for everything he can get when he walks out the door Oct. 1.
