Ben Preiss
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Get ready America…World… O.J. Trial II: Memorabilia Wars is opening soon with the former football hero facing kidnapping, armed robbery and other felony charges this time around. If convicted on all counts, the 60 year old Juice is looking at life in prison. So much for what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, although OJ could end up staying the rest of his life in Vegas if they have a local prison. Once this trial starts forget about seeing anything else on the news.  O.J. Simpson will stand trial on kidnapping, armed robbery and other felony charges stemming from a purported attempt to recover his sports memorabilia, a justice of the peace ruled Wednesday.
Simpson -- who showed little emotion through four days of testimony that painted him as the mastermind of the September robbery -- clenched his jaw and slumped as Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure announced his decision. Outside the courthouse, Simpson, 60, hugged one of his attorneys before leaving in a sport utility vehicle trailed by helicopters.
"He knows in his heart he is totally innocent of these charges and believes in the jury system," attorney Yale Galanter said.
Bonaventure's ruling came after he had heard eight witnesses offer colorful -- and sometimes contradictory -- accounts of what happened in Palace Station Hotel & Casino Room 1203.
Their testimony revealed potential trouble spots in Clark County Dist. Atty. David Roger's case against Simpson. The cast of witnesses with rap sheets and suspect motivations led Galanter to call the case "a defense attorney's dream."
One witness who allegedly helped rob two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint, Simpson golfing buddy Walter Alexander, said under oath that he had been willing to slant his testimony had a Simpson friend paid him. Witness accounts sometimes clashed, particularly as to whether Simpson knew two of his companions were armed during the incident.
"This could be a battle royale come trial because the prosecution's witnesses are so dirty," said former federal prosecutor Laurie L. Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor. "Even people who don't like O.J. might dislike the witnesses more."
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