Will “the Juice” be loose in summer 2017? It’s possible, even probable, according to legal experts who have analyzed his case.
Orenthal James “O.J.” Simpson, now 70, has been incarcerated at the medium-security Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada since 2008 after a conviction stemming from an incident at a Las Vegas hotel room.
The Hall of Fame running back, made notorious after he was put on trial for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman in 1995 (he was found not guilty on those charges), was convicted on 12 charges around the retrieval of sports memorabilia, including conspiracy, burglary, robbery, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 33 years.
Yet, according to an analysis by a law professor for Sports Illustrated, Simpson might be granted early release as early as this summer, based on a point system Nevada uses to assess risk. Simpson scores well because of his age and the fact that he has had no real incidents of violence or gang membership during his eight-year incarceration.
Here are the 11 factors that will be considered, as well as Simpson’s score in each, reported by CBS Sports:
- Age at the time of first arrest (0 points)
- Prior probation or parole revocation (0 points)
- Employment history immediately before arrest (0 points)
- Offense leading to current or prior convictions (2 points)
- History of drug or alcohol abuse (0 points or 1 point)
- Gender (1 point)
- Current age (-1 point)
- Active gang membership (0 points)
- Completed education, vocational or treatment program during prison term (-1 point or 0 points)
- Disciplinary write-ups (-1 point)
- Custody level (0 points)
Simpson’s final tally on this analysis comes to between 0 and 2 points, making him a low risk and a good candidate for parole.
Yet if there is one thing that we know when it comes to O.J., the legal system can go very left when you expect it to go right. So we shall see.
Read more at Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports.