O.J. Simpson was granted parole after appearing before the Nevada Board of Parole on Thursday, as he has served the minimum of nine years of his 33-year prison sentence for armed robbery, assault and kidnapping. Simpson seemed to be overjoyed at the news of his release.
Here are five things you need to know about Simpson’s parole hearing.
1. The chair of the board, Connie Bisbee, accidentally stated that Simpson’s age was 90. “We have that you very recently turned 90 years old,” Bisbee said before she corrected herself. “I’m sorry about that. You look great for 90.”
Simpson sardonically responded, “Feels like it, though.”
2. Simpson didn’t seem to show remorse over the robbery and issued an angry retort toward one of the parole board members. The Daily Mail described Simpson as “showing absolutely no remorse” for the robbery he was convicted of:
‘I am no danger, never pulled a gun on anybody. I never have in my life. Never been accused of it in my life. Nobody’s ever accused me of pulling any weapon on them and Bruce knows that I would never do that,’ said a forceful Simpson.
‘I never have.’
Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman would likely disagree with Simpson’s statement that he’s never been accused of pulling a weapon on someone.
Simpson was also described as becoming increasingly “combative” as he continued:
‘I want to also, as a postscript add that, you know when I got to Lovelock, the state of California took up the issue of who’s property it was. They did an investigation. And they came to the conclusion that it was my property. They turned it over to me. I have it now. You know?’ said Simpson.
‘So I mean, it’s – kind of mind-boggling that they turned over to me property that I’m in jail for for trying to retrieve. You know? It’s – it was my property. I wasn’t there to steal from anybody.’
He then added: ‘And I would never, ever pull a weapon, ever pull a weapon on everybody.’
One of the parole board members asked Simpson about the property he robbed, prompting Simpson to “tersely and angrily” reply that the property belonged to him.
3. Simpson’s daughter, Arnelle, gave an emotional testimony in defense of her father. Arnelle described her relationship with her father as being very close and that the past nine years have been incredibly difficult on her and her family. She insisted that while her father made a mistake for committing the robbery, he is truly sorry for what happened.
“On behalf of my family, my brother, my sister, and aunt and uncle, his friends, we just want him to come home,” Arnelle said. “We really do, we want him to come home. And I know in my heart that he’s very humbled throughout the situation.”
Earlier in the hearing, Simpson stated that he wanted to spend more time with his four children.
4. When Simpson is released from prison – which could be as soon as October 1 – he will likely go back to Florida. That’s where he lived prior to his nine-year prison sentence. His friend, Tom Scotto, suggested that there’s a possibility that Simpson would live with him in Naples.
5. Simpson has a rather lucrative pension awaiting him out of prison. He could have as much as $500,000 saved in his NFL pension account when he leaves prison. He also contributed $5 million to a pension fund run by the Screen Actors Guild.
Simpson still has most of a $33.5 million settlement to the families of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman to pay off, but the settlement can’t touch his retirement income under federal law. State laws in Florida will also protect a number of Simpson’s assets.