OJ Simpson released from prison after nine years

  • 02/10/2017

OJ Simpson has walked free from the Lovelock Correctional Centre in northern Nevada after nine years in prison.

In July, Simpson was granted parole on the remaining counts for which he was convicted stemming from a 2007 Las Vegas robbery.

On October 3, 2008, 13 years to the day he was acquitted for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman, Simpson was convicted on all 12 counts with which he was charged: three counts of conspiracy, one count of burglary in possession of a deadly weapon, and two counts each of kidnapping, robbery, assault, and coercion, all with a deadly weapon.

Nevada District Court Judge Jackie Glass sentenced him to a minimum of nine years in prison and a maximum of 33 years.

Simpson would have been released from jail in September 2022 had parole been denied.

Simpson was granted parole on five counts in a 2013 hearing by the same Nevada parole board that he faced on Thursday.

The remaining seven counts, however, could not be revisited until he served four more years in prison.

The Nevada Department of Corrections released a photo and video of Simpson on its Facebook page:

State prisons spokeswoman Brooke Keast told The Associated Press she didn't know immediately where Simpson was headed in his first hours of freedom, adding an unidentified driver met him and took him to an undisclosed location.

"I don't have any information on where he's going," said Ms Keast, who watched Simpson in blue jeans, denim jacket and ball cap signing documents before his release.

Tom Scotto, a Simpson friend who lives in Florida, told AP by text message that he was with Simpson after his release.

Simpson has said he wanted to move back to Florida, where he lived before his armed robbery conviction in Las Vegas in a September 2007 confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers.

Ms Keast said the dead-of-night release from the prison about 145 kilometres east of Reno, Nevada, was conducted to avoid media attention.

Unlike the last time he went free, 22 years ago, Simpson will face restrictions - up to five years of parole supervision - and he's unlikely to escape public scrutiny as the man who morphed from charismatic football hero, movie star and TV personality into suspected killer and convicted armed robber.

A jury acquitted him of the June 1994 murders but two years later, Simpson was found liable in a civil court for the killings and ordered to pay $US33.5 million to survivors, including his children and Mr Goldman's family.

US Correspondent Sandy Hughes spoke to Duncan Garner. 

Watch the video. 

Reuters