Nevada Supreme Court denies O.J. Simpson’s petition for rehearing

By Cy Ryan

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 | 5:21 p.m.

CARSON CITY – In a one sentence decision, the Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the petition of former football great O.J. Simpson to rehear his case.

The court last October rejected the appeal of Simpson, who was convicted of 11 counts in taking items from memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room in September 2007. He was sentenced to a maximum of 33 years in prison with the possibility of parole after nine years.

Defense lawyers asked the court to reconsider the initial decision, saying there were multiple errors committed.

But Justices Michael Cherry, Nancy Saitta and Mark Gibbons signed the order denying a rehearing.

The court earlier overturned the conviction of co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart. When the case was returned to district court in Las Vegas, Stewart entered into a plea negotiation deal. He was placed on three years of probation, including nine months of home detention.

Stewart had already served two years in prison when the conviction was reversed.

Simpson was convicted of conspiracies to commit a crime, kidnapping and robbery; and burglary, kidnapping, robbery with use of a deadly weapon and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Simpson, now 64, is serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center.

Defense lawyers claimed the prosecution committed misconduct during the trial by excusing two potential jurors who were black and eliciting testimony by intimidation of a witness. They argued there was not enough evidence for the kidnapping conviction.