AFP/POOL/File – O.J. Simpson reacts as he is found guilty on all
12 charges, including felony kidnapping, armed robbery …
LOS ANGELES (AFP) –
O.J. Simpson's conviction for robbery and kidnapping was flawed because black jurors were wrongly excluded and
the judge was prejudiced against his defense team, the disgraced
American football legend's lawyers told an appeals court Friday.
Addressing a three-justice panel of the Nevada Supreme Court sitting in Reno, attorney Yale Galanter said Simpson's guilty verdict should be overturned because of eight procedural errors in his high-profile 2008 trial.
Simpson, who was famously cleared of murdering his ex-wife and her friend at a 1995 trial in Los Angeles, is serving a minimum nine-year jail term following his conviction two years ago following a 2007 incident at a Las Vegas hotel.
Simpson was convicted of bursting into a hotel room with a five other men, two carrying or brandishing guns, and departing with a trove of memorabilia related to his and other famed athletes sports careers.
However in oral arguments during an appeal hearing at the Nevada Supreme Court Friday, Simpson attorney Galanter said a litany of flaws had called the outcome of the 2008 case into question.
"With the trial judge's help, we believe that this case was not a search for the truth but a search for redemption," Galanter said.
Galanter took aim at trial judge Jackie Glass -- described in an appeal brief filed with the court as a "third prosecutor" -- and said she had failed to give proper legal directions to the jury as they deliberated.
"I don't think this trial was handled in a fair and impartial manner," Galanter said. "I think she came down on me and the defense lawyers a lot more than she did on the state."
Galanter cited an incident during the trial where he had become locked in an argument with the judge and discovered later that a court bailiff had been standing behind him during the exchange with handcuffs at the ready.
"I had no idea that was happening. But the mental picture that creates for jurors is devastating for a lawyer trying to have credibility with the jury," Galanter argued.
Prosecutors had also been wrongly allowed to exclude the only two African-American members of the jury pool, Galanter argued.
"The reason given for striking these two jurors was that they could empathize or sympathize with the defense," Galanter said.
"Their speculation on what these African-American jurors might have done given the opportunity had no place in this court room," he added, saying the exclusion "smacked of prejudice."
"It was improper, it was not right," he said. "The state says the two jurors were stricken for remarkably similar reasons.
"I submit to the court that those remarkably similar reasons were because they were both African-American."
State prosecutors denied the two jurors had been unfairly excluded, saying they were stricken because they had expressed reservations about being responsible for sending Simpson to prison.
The court will rule on the appeal at a later date.
Addressing a three-justice panel of the Nevada Supreme Court sitting in Reno, attorney Yale Galanter said Simpson's guilty verdict should be overturned because of eight procedural errors in his high-profile 2008 trial.
Simpson, who was famously cleared of murdering his ex-wife and her friend at a 1995 trial in Los Angeles, is serving a minimum nine-year jail term following his conviction two years ago following a 2007 incident at a Las Vegas hotel.
Simpson was convicted of bursting into a hotel room with a five other men, two carrying or brandishing guns, and departing with a trove of memorabilia related to his and other famed athletes sports careers.
However in oral arguments during an appeal hearing at the Nevada Supreme Court Friday, Simpson attorney Galanter said a litany of flaws had called the outcome of the 2008 case into question.
"With the trial judge's help, we believe that this case was not a search for the truth but a search for redemption," Galanter said.
Galanter took aim at trial judge Jackie Glass -- described in an appeal brief filed with the court as a "third prosecutor" -- and said she had failed to give proper legal directions to the jury as they deliberated.
"I don't think this trial was handled in a fair and impartial manner," Galanter said. "I think she came down on me and the defense lawyers a lot more than she did on the state."
Galanter cited an incident during the trial where he had become locked in an argument with the judge and discovered later that a court bailiff had been standing behind him during the exchange with handcuffs at the ready.
"I had no idea that was happening. But the mental picture that creates for jurors is devastating for a lawyer trying to have credibility with the jury," Galanter argued.
Prosecutors had also been wrongly allowed to exclude the only two African-American members of the jury pool, Galanter argued.
"The reason given for striking these two jurors was that they could empathize or sympathize with the defense," Galanter said.
"Their speculation on what these African-American jurors might have done given the opportunity had no place in this court room," he added, saying the exclusion "smacked of prejudice."
"It was improper, it was not right," he said. "The state says the two jurors were stricken for remarkably similar reasons.
"I submit to the court that those remarkably similar reasons were because they were both African-American."
State prosecutors denied the two jurors had been unfairly excluded, saying they were stricken because they had expressed reservations about being responsible for sending Simpson to prison.
The court will rule on the appeal at a later date.