Witnesses Recall Simpson Hotel Encounter
O.J. Simpson's attorney sought to show Friday that the former football great confronted two memorabilia dealers with only one goal: to recover personal mementoes he believed were stolen.
Collectibles broker Tom Riccio testified under cross-examination that Simpson appeared to ignore other items such as lithographs of football great Joe Montana and items autographed by baseball stars Pete Rose and Duke Snider.
"I don't think he had any interest in any of that," Riccio said.
"Mr. Simpson never said, 'I want to steal some Pete Rose baseballs?"' Simpson attorney Yale Galanter asked.
"No sir," Riccio replied, laughing.
Galanter also sought to show that Simpson made no effort to hide his plan in advance.
O.J. Simpson's Vegas Misadventure
Riccio's testimony came during the second day of an evidentiary hearing to determine if Simpson, Clarence "C.J." Stewart and Charles Ehrlich should face armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges for the Sept. 13 hotel room encounter.
On Thursday, Riccio and memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong testified that Simpson and several other men burst into a room at the Palace Station Hotel Casino on that day and carried off hundreds of items.
On Friday, Galanter portrayed the group's entry into the room as nothing out of the ordinary. Riccio agreed - up to a point.
"I had a key. I let them in," he said. But after the group was inside the room, the once-calm situation "went south," Riccio said.
Riccio said one of the men with Simpson pulled a gun after Fromong began to object that the men were taking his Montana lithographs and his cell phone. Had they only taken the Simpson items, Riccio speculated, the dealers might not have gone to the police.
He added, "I don't think we would have been here if no gun was here."
On Thursday, the judge listened as prosecutors played a recording Riccio had made of the confrontation. On it, Simpson and others are heard screaming at the memorabilia dealers and shouting profanities.
Also Thursday, Fromong testified that Simpson took all the memorabilia he had brought to the room, which included the Montana, Rose and Snider items as well as Simpson materials. Simpson also took his cell phone, Fromong said.
Simpson, 60, and Stewart and Ehrlich, both 53, each face 12 criminal charges. A conviction on the kidnapping count could result in a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery conviction could mean mandatory prison time.
Fromong and Riccio were the first of eight witnesses prosecutors say they expect to call during the hearing. Former co-defendants Michael McClinton, Walter Alexander and Charles Cashmore are expected to testify that Simpson asked for guns to be brought along to show they were serious about retrieving the items that he claimed were his.
Simpson has maintained in interviews and through his lawyers that no guns were displayed, that he never asked anyone to bring guns and that he did not know anyone had guns.
Photos: O.J. Busted In Vegas
Riccio testified Friday that Simpson did not have a gun and did not ask any of the other men to draw a weapon.
"Maybe you didn't see a gun but there was a gun," he said he told Simpson later.
"The gun component is critical here because it would increase Simpson's prison time if he ultimately is convicted," says CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "That's why he's already claimed that he had no idea that guns would be used to as he put it 'get back his stuff.'"
Riccio said he set up the hotel room meeting after being contacted by memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley, who Riccio said told him he had Simpson memorabilia that he wanted to find a buyer for.
"He came right out and said it was stolen from O.J.'s trophy room. Those were his exact words," Riccio said. He added that Beardsley told him that other items in his possession had belonged to Simpson's late mother and were taken from a storage locker she didn't pay the bill on.
Riccio said that when he told Simpson about the items, the former football star was angry and put together a plan to get the materials back. Riccio said that, acting at Simpson's direction, he eventually told Beardsley he had a buyer for the items and set up a meeting to display them in Las Vegas.
He said he also contacted police and the FBI to tip them off to the plan but that they brushed him off. "I was surprised and a lot disappointed," he said of the FBI's reaction.