What figures to be a lengthy jury selection is scheduled to start Monday morning ina Nevada court for the fallen NFL star, actor and advertising pitchman, and his remainingco-defendant, Clarence "C.J" Stewart, a 54-year-old golfing buddy from North Las Vegas.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to 12 charges stemming from a heated encounterlast September with two sports collectibles dealers peddling Simpson memorabilia at a Las Vegashotel-casino.
Simpson said last fall that he put his faith in the jury system and was confidentof an acquittal - a conviction could put him away for life.
"If I have any disappointment it's that I wish a jury was here," Simpson said inNovember, after a contentious four-day preliminary hearing in which prosecution witnesses were castas opportunists, pimps, con artists and crooks out to make a buck off him.
"As always, I rely on the jury system," he said.
Lawyer Robert Lucherini lost several last-ditch bids to get the Nevada SupremeCourt to postpone or sever Stewart's trial from Simpson's.
He argued Stewart can't get a fair trial before a jury sure to know about Simpson'sacquittal in Los Angeles in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend,Ronald Goldman. After the "Trial of the Century," Simpson was found civilly liable for the deathsand ordered to pay a $33.5 million judgment to Goldman's family.
In March, Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass postponed the trial fromApril until September to give the defense more time to prepare. In granting the delay, the judgeacknowledged it took longer than expected for prosecutors to analyze and enhance tape recordings,transcripts and fingerprints and turn them over to the defense to prepare for trial.
Prosecutors, defense lawyers and Glass have used 26-page questionnaires to identifyprospective jurors with biases and cut a jury pool of 500 to fewer than 250.
Jury selection still could take a week or longer, court officials said.
When the 12-member panel and four alternates are seated, the prosecution will tellthem that Simpson and Stewart walked into the casino hotel room on Sept. 13, 2007, with four othermen and robbed the sports collectibles peddlers at gunpoint of items that Simpson said had beenstolen from him.
Simpson, 61 and now living in Miami, maintains he didn't ask anyone to bring gunsand that he didn't know anyone in the room was armed.
The stakes are high. Simpson and Stewart have pleaded not guilty to the charges,which include burglary, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon. A robbery conviction would meanmandatory prison time. A kidnapping conviction carries the possibility of life in prison with thepossibility of parole.
Four of the men who accompanied Simpson - Charles Cashmore, Walter "Goldie"Alexander, Michael "Spencer" McClinton and Charles Ehrlich - pleaded to lesser felony charges andagreed to testify for the prosecution.
But Simpson defense attorney Yale Galanter got Alexander to admit that he wouldhave slanted his testimony in Simpson's favor if the price was right.
"Alexander offered to sell his testimony to the highest bidder," Galanter said ashe prepared for trial. He promised to expose troubled backgrounds of the witnesses lined up againstSimpson.
"This is a cast of very nefarious characters," Galanter said. "And the truth is, these itemswere not memorabilia. The law has always provided a right, dating back to our founding fathers, torecover personal property."
