O.j. Simpson Auctioneer: 'o.j. Didn't Deserve Guilty Verdict'.

1 month ago 11th Oct 15:01

O.j. Simpson Auctioneer: 'o.j. Didn't Deserve Guilty Verdict'....

An auctioneer caught up in O.J. Simpson's hotel heist has come to the defence of the former sports star, claiming he didn't deserve the guilty verdict issued in his kidnapping and armed robbery trial.

Simpson was found guilty of all 12 counts in the trial earlier this month (03Oct08), stemming from a heist he took part in at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last year (Sep07).

The verdict came 13 years to the day since Simpson was acquitted of the double murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

But collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio, who arranged the meeting between Simpson and sports memorabilia collector Bruce Fromong, the trial's chief witness, is convinced Simpson fell victim to a biased jury, blaming his 1995 acquittal for the murder charges for tarnishing the star's reputation.

Riccio tells the New York Post, "He's no personal friend. I hardly know him.

We just did two deals together. And this whole Vegas thing took only 10 hours of my life. What I'm saying isn't popular... (But) what happened 13 years ago, I don't know. I wasn't there. I only know he doesn't deserve 8,000 years plus double life for this.

"(It's) not like he actually planned an armed robbery. He was just stupid. I told him up front, 'Have security next door monitoring what goes down because... who knows...' And he said, 'No, I got my own guys with me. It's okay.' It's his guys (who) did him in. They set him up. They even had a video camera on him so they could sell it afterwards. And he covered for them, lied to cops, because these thugs were his friends... Simply saying, 'No one leaves the room until we get this figured out' constitutes kidnapping in Nevada. That automatically gets you life...

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