BREAKING: O.J. Simpson has been granted parole
During his parole board hearing in Lovelock, Nev. Thursday, O.J. Simpson talked about courses he's taken while in custody, said he's been called on to mediate disputes and said he helped his fellow inmates get a Baptist church service started there. He attends it religiously, he said, noting the pun was intended.
He said he's a good guy who's never been accused of pulling a gun on anyone or having a substance abuse problem. "I have led a conflict-free life," he said. "I'm not a guy who has conflicts on the street. I don't expect to have any when I leave here...I've always been a guy who's gotten along with everybody."
MORE: Key events in OJ's life
The positive verdict wasn't a surprise given the tenor of much of the hearing. Things started off on a friendly note as chairman Connie Bisbee noted he had completed vocational training and has served his sentence thus far without any infractions.
Simpson, 70, in 1995 was acquitted of the 1994 murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Two years later he was found liable in civil legal action and ordered to pay more than $33 million to the survivors. He was arrested in Las Vegas in 2007.
He is nearly nine years into a 33-year sentence following a 2007 incident in a Las Vegas hotel room. He was charged with armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, when he and four other men came to the room to reclaim items Simpson said were his.
Then commissioner Tony Corda asked, basically, "What were you thinking?"
Simpson then started a stem winder of an answer.
For most of the time he was relaxed and jovial, chuckling often. Referring to his request to live in Florida upon release he quipped that he'd stay in Nevada "but I don't think you guys me around any more," then laughed for a minute.
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