Okay, so what exactly is O.J. Simpson's sentence? I thought it was fifteen years in prison and he's eligible for parole in nine but all the news sources I'm seeing are a little incoherent on the topic. Right now on this page, CNN has a story headlined, "O.J. Simpson gets at least 15 years in prison." The first sentence of the story immediately contradicts that headline…
Former gridiron great O.J. Simpson will serve at least nine years in prison for his role in an armed confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel in 2007.
Simpson was sentenced to a maximum of 33 years after a rambling, emotional apology in which he told District Judge Jackie Glass, his voice shaking, that he was sorry for his actions but believed he did nothing wrong.
I understand that nine years is to when he's eligible for parole…but if he was sentenced to a maximum of 33 years, where does this fifteen number come from? That's what everyone was saying on the news coverage I watched earlier…fifteen years. They were also saying, "Well, at least he didn't get a life sentence." Thirty-three years might be a life sentence to Simpson, who is 61. Fifteen years probably wouldn't be.
If you think this is confusing, you should have watched Fox News, which was giving out a wide array of numbers all day. In the picture above, as you can see, the crawl at the bottom says he has to serve "at least 15 years." As with the CNN report and most others, that's kind of misleading. If he's eligible for parole in nine years, then he's been sentenced to serve at least nine years, not fifteen.
The crawl in the screen shot below says "Simpson sentenced to 15 years; eligible for parole after 6." That's a better way to put it except that the 6 is wrong. He's eligible for parole in 2017, which is nine years, not six. And what's with that box that says "15 to life?"
I'm sure there's a simple explanation for all this. It's just kinda bizarre that none of the news reports — at least the ones through which I've waded — seem to give it. The L.A. Times article doesn't mention the fifteen year number at all and says he was sentenced to 33 years but is eligible for parole in nine. The Times piece also says something I hadn't heard elsewhere, which is that Simpson was offered a plea bargain — for a lot less time than he'll likely serve — and the offer was declined because "Mr. Simpson wanted something just short of a public apology."
Nice going, O.J. The judge was right: Arrogant and stupid.