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Here's When O.J. Simpson Could Be Released From Prison

by Kelly Tunney
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O.J. Simpson has been serving time in a Nevada prison for a 2007 robbery in a Las Vegas hotel. Simpson has already spent eight and a half years at Lovelock Correctional Center, and during his parole hearing on Thursday, he was granted parole by the Nevada state board. Now that he's received parole, when will Simpson be released from prison?

Simpson could be a free man again on October 1, 2017. The date is the nine-year marker of his time in prison. Simpson was found guilty of the robbery 13 years after he was acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldstone in 1995. Upon his 2008 guilty verdict on 12 counts that included armed robbery and kidnapping, he was sentenced to 33 years with eligibility for parole after nine. The former NFL football star is now 70.

At his 2008 sentencing, Simpson said that he was just trying to get back family heirlooms that were taken from him, and claimed he didn't know any of the people with him were armed. "I wasn't there to hurt anybody," he said. "I just wanted my personal things, and I realize now that was stupid of me. I am sorry." He reiterated this at the 2017 parole hearing.

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During his time in Lovelock, Simpson testified that he completed "alternatives to violence" programs that taught him conflict management. During his hearing, he suggested that those skills would help him avoid conflict outside in the world, should he be released. He told the room, "I'm not a guy that has conflicts on the street. I'm not expecting to have one when I leave here."Simpson also took the opportunity during his hearing to apologize to the people of Nevada.

In 2013, Simpson was granted parole on five of the 12 charges. However, it was the remaining seven that've kept him in prison since then. Two counts of kidnapping, two robbery charges, and one burglary with a firearm were dropped.

The parole board said in 2013 they granted Simpson's request because he had a minimal conviction record otherwise, and attended programs that addressed his charges, his positive record while in prison, and the fact that he was still serving time for other charges, according to USA Today.

On Thursday, the board unanimously voted to grant his parole and cited Simpson's efforts to undergo change while in prison, his age, and that he had been a model prisoner at Lovelock.