O.J. Simpson is released from prison early Sunday morning
Quietly, O.J. Simpson Is Released From Prison Early Sunday Morning, October 1, 2017 After Serving Nine Years For A 2007 Robbery And Kidnapping Incident In Las Vegas.
The Hall of Fame football player left Lovelock Correctional Center with an unidentified driver at 12:08 a.m., Brooke Keast, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections told The Los Angeles Times, saying simply: “He is out.”
“[The release] was incident free, nobody followed, it was exactly what we’d hoped we could do for public safety,” Keast told reporters. “It was a public safety concern. To make it quiet, under the radar and incident free.”
Simpson, originally sentenced to nine-to-33 years in prison for conducting a sting to retrieve memorabilia from his sports career, was granted parole in July, with a date of “on or after Oct. 1″ set. He had reacted emotionally, mouthing a “thank you” as four members of the Nevada Board of Prisons delivered their votes for parole.
“Floridians are well aware of Mr. Simpson’s background, his wanton disregard for the lives of others, and of his scofflaw attitude with respect to the heinous acts for which he has been found civilly liable,” Pam Bondi wrote in the letter (via Associated Press). “Our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal.”
Whatever the future holds for Simpson, it is likely to be somewhat surreal, given his past and the circumstances surrounding his parole hearing.
Offered the chance to make a statement, Simpson apologized. “I’ve come here and spent nine years making no excuses about anything. I am sorry things turned out the way they did. … I tell inmates all the time ‘Don’t complain about your grind. Do your time.’ … I believe in the jury system. I will honor the decision. … I have done my time and I’d like to get back to my friends. And believe it or not I do have some friends. I don’t think anyone could have honored this institution better. … I’m sorry it happened.”
Will Simpson live in California, where he was acquitted of double murder in the “trial” of the century in 1995, or will he go to Florida, where he was living before his arrest? And how will he be received after being the subject of a popular miniseries and documentary on his murder trial? Only time will tell.