O.J. Simpson granted parole in Nevada robbery

LOVELOCK, Nev. — Former football star and convicted felon O.J. Simpson is granted his freedom Thursday.

The Latest on O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing:

1:55 p.m.

O.J. Simpson will be paroled after serving nine years in prison for a botched bid to retrieve sports memorabilia in Las Vegas.

A Nevada parole board decided Thursday that the 70-year-old former football, TV and movie star will be released in October after serving his minimum term for armed robbery and assault with a weapon.

Simpson responded emotionally, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Four parole commissioners in Carson City questioned Simpson by videoconference from the Lovelock Correctional Center in rural Nevada. He has been held there since he was convicted in 2008.

The conviction came 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of murder in 1995 in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles.

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1:25 p.m.

A Nevada parole board is heading into deliberations on whether to grant O.J. Simpson release from prison.

The four commissioners who questioned Simpson by videoconference walked out of the room after hearing testimony from Simpson, his daughter and the victim in the armed robbery that put Simpson in prison for nearly nine years.

Connie Bisbee, chairwoman of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners, said it would take about 30 minutes to make a decision. It has to be unanimous.

Two other commissioners monitored the hearing and will weigh in if the other four don’t reach a unanimous decision.

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1:20 p.m.

One of the sports memorabilia dealers in the robbery that put O.J. Simpson in prison has told a Nevada parole board that the former sports star apologized to him and he accepted it.

Bruce Fromong says he and Simpson have been friends for almost 27 years and that Simpson is not a threat. He says Simpson’s nearly nine years behind bars is “way too long” and that it’s time for him to go home to his family and friends.

He said Simpson is a good man and made a mistake. Turning to Simpson, Fromong said that if Simpson was released: “Juice I’ll be here tomorrow for you.”

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1:10 p.m.

One of the sports memorabilia dealers who was robbed by O.J. Simpson has told a Nevada parole board that the former sports star was misled about what was going to be at a Las Vegas hotel for him to recover.

Bruce Fromong says he and Simpson have been friends for almost 27 years and that Simpson never “held a gun on me.”

Simpson’s lawyer, Malcolm Lavergne, said earlier that Fromong called his office and they talked about how Simpson had apologized and he had accepted it.

Simpson has spent more than eight years behind bars for armed robbery and assault with a weapon after trying to take back sports memorabilia in a budget hotel room in Las Vegas.

O.J. Simpson has told a Nevada parole board that he is sorry “that things turned out the way they did” and had no intent to commit a crime.

Simpson also says he will be “no problem” and would like to get back to family and friends. He says no one has represented his prison better than himself.

He says he would like to get back to his family and friends.

Related story: There are betting odds on O.J. Simpson parole hearing

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1:05 p.m.

O.J. Simpson’s attorney says he has talked to the sports memorabilia that was robbed and that the two had made things right.

Malcolm Lavergne told a Nevada parole board that Bruce Fromong called his office and they talked about how Simpson had apologized and he had accepted it.

Fromong is a longtime friend of Simpson’s and would testify in favor of release before the board Thursday.

Simpson has spent nearly nine years behind bars for armed robbery and assault with a weapon after trying to take back sports memorabilia from Fromong and another collectibles dealer in a budget hotel room in Las Vegas.

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1 p.m.

O.J. Simpson’s lawyer has read a letter from his client to a Nevada lawmaker thanking him for providing educational materials to the prison where the former football star has been housed for nearly nine years.

Simpson wrote to state Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo, one of his former attorneys, that the education provided behind bars helped him learn new skills. The letter was read aloud Thursday at Simpson’s parole hearing.

He cited a computer course he took that would allow him to better communicate with his children and perhaps even do a webcast or blog in the future.

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12:55 p.m.

Arnelle Simpson, O.J. Simpson’s oldest child, is speaking on behalf of the family at his parole hearing in Nevada, saying they just want him to come home.

She told the parole board Thursday that the family realizes he’s not perfect but has done the best he can. She says he didn’t make the right decision in 2008 when he tried to take back sports memorabilia in a budget hotel room in Las Vegas. He was convicted of armed robbery and has spent nearly nine years behind bars.

Arnelle Simpson says she knows her father is remorseful, and the family wants him home so they can move forward. She called her father her best friend and her rock.

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12:45 p.m.

A Nevada parole board says O.J. Simpson has requested to live in Florida if he is released from prison.

Simpson then said, laughing, “I could easily stay in Nevada but I don’t think you guys want me here.”

The chairwoman of the parole commissioner said, “No comment here.” Parole commissioners say he applied to live with family in Florida.

Simpson has spent more than eight years behind bars for armed robbery and assault with a weapon after trying to take back sports memorabilia in a budget hotel room in Las Vegas.

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12:40 p.m.

A Nevada parole official has told O.J. Simpson that the board has received hundreds of letters in support and opposition to his release from prison.

Parole Commissioner Susan Jackson said Thursday that the opposition letters requested the board take into account his 1995 acquittal on murder charges in the death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman as well as a civil court decision that found him liable for the deaths.

But Jackson says the board would not take that into account. Simpson thanked the board.

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12:35 p.m.

O.J. Simpson has told a Nevada parole board that he has often mediated conflict among inmates.

Simpson told the board Thursday that an alternative-to-violence course he took has been the most important lesson behind bars.

Simpson previously asked for leniency in 2013, saying he had tried to be a model prisoner. He won parole on some convictions but was left with four more years to serve.

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12:30 p.m.

O.J. Simpson has told a Nevada parole board he wasn’t aware that when he and others went to a Las Vegas hotel room to confront two sports memorabilia dealers that one of his companions pulled a gun.

Simpson told the board Thursday he only found out about the gun afterward. He has spent nearly nine years behind bars for armed robbery and assault with a weapon for the heist.

He says the men who went with him to the hotel room received a get-out-of-jail-free card when they told authorities that Simpson told them to do it.

Simpson says he apologized to the surviving memorabilia dealer, who was a friend, and that he accepted the apology.

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12:25 p.m.

O.J. Simpson is telling a Nevada parole board that he didn’t make any excuses during his nine years behind bars and has no intention of making them during his parole hearing.

The former sports star described what led up to an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel, saying he never pointed a gun at anyone or made any threats during the crime that put him in prison.

Simpson strongly stated Thursday that almost all the sports memorabilia items he saw in a collector’s Las Vegas hotel room belonged to him.

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12:15 p.m.

A parole commissioner asks O.J, Simpson what he was thinking at the time of the robbery of sports memorabilia at a Las Vegas hotel.

After the question from Adam Endel on Thursday at a parole hearing, Simpson took a deep breath and says it could be a lengthy response.

He says he wasn’t interested at first in memorabilia but saw that some of the items two collectors were selling belonged to him.

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12:15 p.m.

Parole commissioner Adam Endel is sporting a Kansas City Chiefs tie for O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing.

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12:10 p.m.

A hearing room at Nevada prison erupted in laughter after a parole commissioner said that O.J. Simpson was 90.

A burst of laughter followed the comment Thursday from Connie Bisbee, chairwoman of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners, who then corrected herself that the former sports star was 70.

Simpson has spent more than eight years behind bars for armed robbery and assault with a weapon after trying to take back sports memorabilia in a budget hotel room in Las Vegas.

Simpson also laughed as a parole commissioner told him that he was getting the same hearing as anyone else would.

He chuckled Thursday after the comment from Connie Bisbee, chairwoman of the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners, and said, “Thank you, ma’am.”

The 70-year-old Simpson is asking four Nevada parole board members to release him in October. He has a good chance after they sided with him once before and because he’s kept a clean prison record.

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12:05 p.m.

O.J. Simpson appeared thinner and grayer at his parole hearing than when he was last seen four years ago.

Simpson is pleading Thursday on live TV for his release from the Nevada prison where he’s spent more than eight years for armed robbery and assault with a weapon.

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12 p.m.

O.J. Simpson’s friends, family and the victim have entered a hearing room in a Nevada prison, where he’s going to plead for his release after being convicted of armed robbery in 2008.

There was heavy security around the prison Thursday. Authorities set up a checkpoint on a single road leading to Lovelock Correctional Center to screen vehicles.

The parking lot is filled with network media satellite trucks and tents set up to shade reporters from intense sun.

Dozens of reporters also have set up outside the parole board building in Carson City, where the four parole commissioners will interview him by videoconference.