O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted in a sensational murder trial that gripped America more than a decade ago, was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison on Friday for kidnapping and robbery in a Las Vegas hotel room.
A judge imposed the sentenced two months after jurors found the 61-year-old retired football star guilty of all 12 charges against him for last year's gunpoint holdup of two sports collectors to retrieve memorabilia from his storied career.
Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass ruled that Simpson, known as "The Juice" during his days with the National Football League and who also had a career as an actor, would be eligible for parole after nine years.
Dressed in blue prison garb, Simpson appeared somber and drawn as the sentence was pronounced. Minutes earlier he had pleaded for leniency, saying he had only meant to retrieve possessions he believed were wrongly taken from him.
"I didn't mean to hurt anybody, and I didn't mean to steal anything," he said, his voice husky and trembling with emotion.
Simpson has been in custody since he was convicted on October 3, exactly 13 years after his controversial 1995 acquittal in Los Angeles in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
Goldman's father Fred and other family members, who have pursued Simpson for years in court and in the media, were present for the sentencing and celebrated the decision.
"We are thrilled. It is a bittersweet moment knowing that that S.O.B. (son of a bitch) is going to be in jail for a very long time. It was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs," said Fred Goldman, father of Ron Goldman.
Outside the court, a handful of Simpson supporters proclaimed his innocence.
The most serious penalty received by the onetime star was 15 years for kidnapping. He was sentenced to an additional six years for use of a deadly weapon in the commission of that crime, plus 12 years for assault, bringing his total maximum term to 33 years.
Simpson's lawyers had asked that he serve no more than six years for storming into a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino with five cohorts in September 2007 to hold two sports merchandise dealers at gunpoint, then making off with thousands of dollars in collectibles.
The four other men originally charged in the case all agreed to plead guilty and took the witness stand for the prosecution during nearly three weeks of testimony.
Neither Simpson nor co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, who was also given a 15-year sentence on Friday, testified in their own defense.
Simpson's lead attorney, Yale Galanter, has said his client's past as a notorious murder defendant, widely seen as having eluded justice in Los Angeles, was a factor in his being found guilty by the Las Vegas jurors.
But Judge Glass, known for her tough sentences, said she was not influenced by Simpson's acquittal 13 years ago.
"There are many people who disagreed with that verdict but that's not what matters to me," she said before sentencing him.
"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else," she added.
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