While Blake Fielder-Civil may be in some deep $h!t for perverting the course of justice in London, at least he can take comfort in the fact that he's not O.J.
The first day of O.J. Simpson's criminal evidence hearing in Clark County, Nev., was marked by dramatic audio tapes and a collectibles broker who testified that he set up the meeting that led to armed robbery charges against the Juice.
The second day of the preliminary hearing to decide if Simpson and two other men should stand trial on 12 criminal charges is set for today. His lawyers are expected to try to undercut the testimony of Tom Riccio, who says he hid a recorder in the hotel room where Simpson is accused of armed robbery.
O.J. Simpson gritted his teeth and laid his gold reading glasses on the defense table as the voicemail he left for Riccio was played in court.
"Hey Tom. It's O.J. What are they talking about a gun? All I wanted was my stuff back again," OJ Simpson says on the 35-second recording.
Simpson refers to hundreds of items taken from memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley on September 13 as his "stolen stuff."
"Nobody had a gun, you know?" OJ Simpson says in the tape. "Ain't nobody had any guns. They're feeling guilty so they're trying to make up something."
Played at the preliminary hearing, these words from OJ contrast markedly to the chaotic bellows, orders and curses heard during a six-minute recording of the confrontation in a room at the Palace Station Hotel that ends with a single voice.
"We were just robbed at gunpoint man," a man says. "We were just robbed at gunpoint by O.J. Simpson!"
Defense lawyers for Simpson, Clarence "C.J." Stewart and Charles Ehrlich lost a last-minute bid to get a judge to exclude the audio.
As OJ's girlfriend Christie Prody looked on, prosecutors alleged that Simpson, Stewart, Ehrlich and three other men who have taken plea deals conspired to rob Beardsley and Fromong and then lied to say no guns were used.
Former co-defendants Michael McClinton, Walter Alexander and Charles Cashmore are expected to testify that Simpson asked for guns to be brought along to show they were serious about retrieving items he claimed were his.
Simpson has maintained in interviews and through his lawyers that no guns were displayed, that he never asked anyone to bring guns and that he did not know anyone had guns at the time of his "sting operation."
O.J. Simpson faces armed robbery, kidnapping and other felony charges. A kidnapping conviction could result in a sentence of life in prison.
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