State recommends 18 years for Simpson

Associated Press

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 | 10:49 a.m.

State authorities are recommending O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant each be sentenced to 18 years in prison for the armed robbery and kidnapping of two sports-memorabilia dealers, according to documents filed Tuesday.

Lawyers for the former NFL star and Clarence "C.J" Stewart filed briefs asking Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass for minimum prison terms of six years when she sentences the two men Friday.

A brief filed by Stewart's lawyer refers to a confidential recommendation by the state Parole and Probation Division that the two men serve sentences totaling 18 years for two counts of kidnapping with a deadly weapon and two counts of armed robbery.

Kidnapping convictions call for mandatory prison time, and each count carries a six-year sentence. Armed-robbery charges each carry three-year sentences.

"We would like the judge to take our recommendation to heart and sentence (Simpson) to the minimum, six years," Simpson lawyer Gabriel Grasso said after filing his brief.

Glass is not bound by the report and could sentence each of the men to the maximum term of life in prison.

The brief filed by Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson, asked the judge to disregard the state's recommendation.

The brief indicates the state is recommending concurrent terms for the other charges for which the two men were convicted, including conspiracy, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and coercion.

A jury Oct. 3 convicted Simpson and Stewart of all 12 charges against them in the Sept. 13, 2007, confrontation.

Simpson, 61, and Stewart, 54, are in the Clark County jail in Las Vegas.

Simpson was famously acquitted of murder in Los Angeles in the 1994 slaying of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.