O.J. Co-Defendants Get Probation

"You've Got To Be Kidding Me!" Exclaims Robbery Victim In Court Room

(AP)  Four former O.J. Simpson co-defendants who took plea deals and testified against the former football star were sentenced to probation Tuesday for their roles in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers.

Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass lectured the men but accepted a state recommendation that they serve no prison time. Instead she imposed terms of probation ranging from three to eight years on Michael McClinton, Walter Alexander, Charles Ehrlich and Charles Cashmore.

"I think one of you expressed today that if Mr. Simpson wanted something done and wanted you to do something, he asked and you did it," the judge said. "How stupid. But also criminal. You all broke the law and now you're all paying for it ... because you're all convicted felons now."

The eight-year probation sentence for McClinton, who testified that he supplied two guns and displayed one during the confrontation, drew an angry outburst from Bruce Fromong, one of the two memorabilia dealers robbed by Simpson and the others.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Fromong exclaimed before the judge ordered him removed from the courtroom and escorted out of the courthouse.

McClinton, Alexander, Ehrlich and Cashmore each pleaded guilty to lesser charges and testified about their involvement in Simpson's September 2007 confrontation with Fromong and fellow collectibles dealer Alfred Beardsley at a Las Vegas hotel-casino. Each could have gotten prison time - up to 11 years in McClinton's case.

Alexander, Ehrlich and Cashmore each expressed relief following sentencing.

"One word. Relieved," Alexander said. Cashmore said he felt "reborn."

McClinton quickly left the courthouse and was not immediately reached for comment.

The men originally faced charges similar to Simpson and Clarence "C.J." Stewart, the only co-defendant who stood trial.

Simpson, convicted in October, was sentenced Friday to nine to 33 years in prison on 10 counts, including kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy. He was transferred to a Nevada state prison Monday.

Stewart was sentenced to 7½ to 27 years after District Attorney David Roger characterized the former mortgage broker and Simpson friend as less culpable than Simpson in the armed raid in a cramped hotel room.

Simpson had rounded up his five co-defendants to help him confront Beardsley and Fromong, who he said had sports memorabilia and family heirlooms that had been stolen from him. Another memorabilia dealer who had arranged the hotel-room meeting secretly recorded the confrontation, in which angry threats were shouted and a gun was drawn.

State parole and probation agents recommended no prison time for McClinton, 50, of Las Vegas, who acknowledged bringing guns to the confrontation, and Cashmore, 41, of Las Vegas, the last man recruited to come along, their attorneys said. Glass sentenced Cashmore to three years of probation.

Prosecutors earlier promised to seek a suspended sentence and probation for Alexander, 47, a Simpson golfing buddy from Mesa, Ariz., who admitted taking one of McClinton's guns into the Palace Station hotel room for the Sept. 13, 2007, encounter. He received four years' probation.

"My client cooperated even before it was to his legal advantage to do so," said Alexander's lawyer, Robert Dennis Rentzer.

The judge accepted the apology of Ehrlich, 54, a Simpson friend from Miami who was the last of the four men to take a plea deal. He apologized "for my stupidity and what I did."

"He betrayed you," Glass said of Simpson before sentencing Ehrlich to six years of probation. "But you made a choice and participated in this event."

Simpson, in an emotional statement to the judge last week, said he asked Stewart to help him retrieve personal items and memorabilia, and that McClinton, Alexander, Ehrlich and Cashmore volunteered to come along.

Simpson insisted he was only after items that he said had been stolen from him in the years after he was acquitted of murder in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.

"I didn't ask anybody to do anything but to stand behind me, allow me to yell at these guys and then help me remove those things," Simpson told the judge.

[mydiatribe]

To my Black Brothers and Sisters who are outraged by this brand of retro-fitted justice I would remind them of the Jury Nullification orchestrated by a few Black jurors who refused to hear the evidence in OJ''s double murder trial.
Just how long did you think that Big Cat Fish would survive in that little creek on the golf course?

[getoffmine1]

This just shows how weak the evidence was. The fact that they found OJ guilty is a disgrace based on the evidence. It is odvious they were re-trying him for his wifes murder, which is totally wrong. Even if he did it he was found not guilty and cannot be tried twice in the U.S.

[bwlewis1964]

I wish you people would get over O.J. Simpson, If
Nicole was black this wouldn''t be news at all.

[rudy6543]

This case is a sham as evidenced by the far lighter sentences. Yes, I believe OJ guilty of murder, but our justice system let him off. But that doesn''t change the fact that this was an obvious setup and plan to get him. It just tells me that you can go scott free for murder, but go to jail for longer than a murder rap for trying to get your stuff back. The judge here is an idiot.

[thisandthat1]

After getting away with a double murder, you''d think he''d be smart enough to go off to an island somewhere .. play golf, lay low and be grateful. If nothing else, he deserves the "Stupid Criminal of the Century" award!

[susanhelit]

OJ got more for two simple reasons. First, he didn''t plead out, like these guys did. Second, he''s the ringleader, he''s the one who organized it. He also didn''t testify, didn''t come clean to police, help them find everyone who did it, as these guys did.

[skalpakian]

As for the probation sentences, that is what happens when you enter a plea bargain. OJ stupidly thought he would beat the charges despite all of that evidence against him. None of the evidence was fabricated. OJ could have also entered a plea and gotten away with a minimal sentence at best. That is what happens when you gamble in Vegas.

[skalpakian]

"Sure it was. You go right on thinking that."...***.. are you seriously trying to create doubt that this was a frame job. Let''''s see...
One guy has a tape recorder in his pocket (Yes the guy who arranged the meeting). Another guy secretly brings two guns and yet he gets off scott free (Clearly he had a pre-existing arrangement with some of the people working in the AG office). Cameras set up and rolling to record the whole scene...
But hey, be happy. You got your man, no matter what you had to do to get him. Just like you got in Iraq no matter you had to do.
The whole world is watching and the whole world knows this was a frame job. God luck with rebuilding your image abroad.
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Posted by toncul at 07:40 PM : Dec 09, 2008

OJ arranged the meeting to buy back the stuff he claims was stolen from him (Despite OJ giving the stuff to those guys to hide it from the Goldmans). OJ asks the guys that are with him at a wedding to help him out. No evidence of some long thought out plan. The cameras you speak of are the cameras that are in the casino lobby areas. ALL hotels in Vegas have those cameras. The one guy did have a recorder set up. But how would he know what OJ was going to do or say?

[bigscruffy1]

This just proves how corrupt the justice system is. If they were all guilty of the same crimes then they should all have received a similar sentence.

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

Wow! I wonder if this extra light sentence for a crime involving the use of firearms, will be the key to the door to unlock a successful appeal by the Simpson legal folks... ??

[yeswecan2]

I am not and OJ fan but I think OJ will win on an appeal. It seem like he got tried for the same crime twice. These other guys that got probation, should have receive the same or similar punishment.

[keisha713-2009]

What a mockery of the justice system.

[toncul-2009]

Yes "Who Cares".. a man is framed by the authorities..prosecuted with false evidence(and lynched?? oh no.. that was the other guy who was lynched)...and just because "we don''t like him"...and you say "Who cares".
After all, justice is not so important...right

[mandalay-bay]

wow OJ got hosed LOL

[toncul-2009]

"Sure it was. You go right on thinking that."...***.. are you seriously trying to create doubt that this was a frame job. Let''s see...
One guy has a tape recorder in his pocket (Yes the guy who arranged the meeting). Another guy secretly brings two guns and yet he gets off scott free (Clearly he had a pre-existing arrangement with some of the people working in the AG office). Cameras set up and rolling to record the whole scene...
But hey, be happy. You got your man, no matter what you had to do to get him. Just like you got in Iraq no matter you had to do.
The whole world is watching and the whole world knows this was a frame job. God luck with rebuilding your image abroad.

[skalpakian]

This whole thing was a frame job (set up) from start to finish..It''''s nice to see americans respect the rule of law i.e. If we can''''t get you one way, we''''ll get you the crooked azz way. "Praise Jesus". "Whatever it takes". "It''''s the right thing to do".
Log this one next to the trumped up evidence to attack iraq and afghanistan.

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Posted by toncul at 06:58 PM : Dec 09, 2008


Sure it was. You go right on thinking that. Those bad people made OJ come to the hotel and commit a crime. OJ was out looking for the killers of Nicole and Ron at Vegas casinos when he was lured to the hotel to get back the stuff he had been hiding from being collected to pay off the judgment against him.

[skalpakian]

The guy who displayed the gun gets probation??? The guy who brought two guns gets probation??

OJ gets 15 years???

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[toncul-2009]

This whole thing was a frame job (set up) from start to finish..It''s nice to see americans respect the rule of law i.e. If we can''t get you one way, we''ll get you the crooked azz way. "Praise Jesus". "Whatever it takes". "It''s the right thing to do".
Log this one next to the trumped up evidence to attack iraq and afghanistan.

[toncul-2009]

s

[toolmangler-2009]

i''m NOT defending OJ in ANY way but it makes you wonder why the sentences were not more evenly meted out...
Posted by dltgold at 05:48 PM : Dec 09, 2008



Because O.J. had already gotten away with a double murder and everybody knows it.