Witness: O.J. came into room with armed men
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) — O.J. Simpson was in a Las Vegas courtroom Thursday for a probable cause hearing in the armed robbery case against him.
The first witness, Bruce L. Fromong, described himself as a semi-retired dealer in wholesale sports memorabilia who has known Simpson since the early 1990s.
Simpson is accused of bursting into a Las Vegas hotel room on September 13 with five other men and taking sports memorabilia at gunpoint from two dealers.
The 60-year-old Heisman Trophy winner — nattily attired in a light-gray suit, silk pocket square, white shirt and striped tie — sat with his table of attorneys as Judge Joe M. Bonaventure opened the two-day hearing.
My function is to determine if there is probable cause, said the bearded, pony-tailed judge. If so, the defendants will be held to answer these charges in District Court; if not, those charges will be dismissed.
He ordered that none of the eight scheduled witnesses be allowed in the courtroom during others’ testimony.
Journalists filled more than half of the 100-plus seats inside the Regional Justice Center.
Prosecutors said Simpson led the alleged heist. He has pleaded not guilty to a raft of criminal charges, including conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
Simpson has said that no guns were used and he was merely retrieving sports memorabilia that belonged to him.
He is free on $125,000 bail.
Fromong said that Alfred Beardsley — another collectibles broker whom he described as an O.J. groupie — had called Fromong saying he had a high-profile buyer for Simpson memorabilia. A meeting was planned to take place September 13 at Palace Station Hotel.
Fromong testified that, at 6 p.m. that day, he arrived at the hotel with his truck, which was loaded with 600 to 700 items that included presentation balls, plaques and ties worn by Simpson at his criminal trial in the mid-1990s for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend. Fromong said he also had items he had bought from Mike Gilbert, a former business partner with Fromong and Simpson who is also in the sports memorabilia business.
Fromong said the memorabilia included other athletes’ lithographs, baseballs and such.
He said he met Beardsley in front of the hotel. Beardsley, who was to get a percentage of whatever was sold, told Fromong that Thomas Riccio, an auctioneer for the buyer, was inside the hotel, Fromong said.
He said Riccio met the men inside the hotel at the bar. He then walked with the men back to Fromong’s truck in the hotel parking lot to show him the items. He said Riccio expressed disappointment to Beardsley that there weren’t more items, because Riccio said he had been told to expect thousands of items.
Fromong said Riccio then asked that the items be taken into a room in the hotel, which the men did.
Riccio then left the room to get the buyer, he said, and asked that he and Beardsley wait inside.
That was where Fromong said he was, talking on his new cell phone, when the room door burst open and people entered the room.
First through the door was Clarence Stewart, Fromong said.
The second man entered with a drawn semiautomatic weapon, he said.
Two other men flanked him and yelled at Fromong to put down his phone, he said. Fromong said Stewart pushed him back and Simpson entered the room, stopped briefly, and said, Don’t let anyone out of the room. Nobody leaves.
Fromong said he and Beardsley were frisked and Simpson yelled at Beardsley and accused him of stealing from him.
He said he saw a second gun in the belt of second man.
Simpson then told the men who had the items, This is all mine. This is all my [stuff], Fromong said.
Fromong said he responded that he hadn’t taken it, that Mike took your stuff. He said he was referring to Mike Gilbert.
Fromong said Simpson then asked him for Gilbert’s telephone number. When Fromong began to retrieve the number from his phone, he was told, We don’t have time for this.
At that, he said, Simpson took his cell phone and said he’d leave it for him at the hotel’s front desk.
The men then picked up the items in the room, including non-Simpson material, and put it into boxes and a pillow case, Fromong said.
Neither Simpson nor any of the other men mentioned calling the police or the FBI during the event, which lasted five or six minutes, Fromong said.
After the men departed, he said, Beardsley called 911 and Fromong went to the front desk to report he had been robbed by Simpson.
The desk clerk initially thought he was joking, he said.
He and Beardsley then went to the parking area to see if they could find the men who had robbed them, then returned to the hotel to await the arrival of police, he said.
Fromong was the first of what are expected to be eight witnesses, including several former co-defendants who have reached plea deals on lesser charges. They are expected to testify for the prosecution and say that guns were used in the confrontation at Simpson’s request. Watch Simpson’s former friend describe the incident
Simpson’s attorneys are not expected to call any witnesses.
Outside the justice center, a man in a chicken suit held a sign that said, O.J. Is Guilty. News helicopters circled overhead.
In 1995, after a lengthy trial, Simpson was acquitted in the slayings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
In 1997, a civil court found him liable for their deaths.
found here.
