LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson filed court papers seeking dismissal of half the charges against him, saying prosecutors in Nevada failed to meet legal standards to prosecute him for kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy, his lawyer said Friday.

“We’re challenging things that we think should never have been let go to the District Court,” said the attorney, Gabriel Grasso.

Grasso filed court papers Thursday claiming prosecutors didn’t meet the evidentiary standards to prosecute the former football star on six of the 12 charges against him. (more…)

LAS VEGAS — Hands cuffed at his waist and a defeated expression on his face, O.J. Simpson listened to a judge blister him Wednesday for “arrogance or ignorance or both” for breaking bail terms in a robbery case.

“I don’t know, Mr. Simpson, what the heck you were thinking, or maybe that’s the problem — you weren’t,” Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass lectured as she doubled his bail to $250,000.

Simpson posted bond and was released from jail just after 11 p.m. Simpson walked out by himself and quickly got into a white Mercedes and was driven away without commenting to the dozen members of the news media on hand.

Galanter had earlier said Simpson would post the deed to his home. (more…)

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson is due in court today as his attorney denies the former football star violated his bail agreement in a motion asking that his client be again let out of jail to await trial in his armed robbery case.

Attorney Gabriel Grasso’s three-page document, filed late Tuesday, urges a judge to reject Clark County District Attorney David Roger’s effort to have Simpson jailed without bail until his April 7 trial.

Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass was to hear arguments on the request Wednesday.

Simpson, 60, will appear in court after spending five nights and four days at the Clark County jail, where police said he had been cooperative after arriving late Friday from Florida in the custody of his bail bondsman, Miguel Pereira. (more…)

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson was in jail Saturday, accused of violating terms of his bail in an armed robbery case, after a bondsman told authorities the former football star tried to get him to pass a message to a co-defendant.

Simpson was awaiting a Wednesday court hearing, when prosecutors planned to request that Simpson’s bail be revoked and he be kept in jail until trial, set for April.

The 60-year-old arrived in Las Vegas on Friday on a commercial flight from Florida with his bail bondsman, Miguel Pereira. He was taken in handcuffs by a police escort to the Clark County Detention Center.

Pereira said he was unhappy because he had not been paid for handling Simpson’s bail, and that he gave prosecutors a message Simpson wanted him to take to a co-defendant because he didn’t want to face criminal charges. (more…)

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson is in custody in Florida on allegations that he violated terms of his release on bail by calling one of his co-defendants in a Las Vegas armed robbery case, a court official said Friday.

Prosecutors allege that Simpson, identifying himself as “Miguel,” telephoned Clarence “C.J.” Stewart on Nov. 16 and expressed frustration with Stewart’s testimony at a preliminary hearing, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

That was two days after a Las Vegas justice of the peace ruled that Simpson, Stewart and another co-defendant should stand trial on 12 charges, including kidnapping and robbery.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger was filing a motion Friday to revoke Simpson’s bail, according to a court clerk.

Simpson was to go before a judge Wednesday.

“We understand he’s in the custody of his bail bondsman in Florida right now and will be brought to Las Vegas for the hearing,” said Elana Pitaro, a clerk for District Court Judge Jackie Glass.

A bail bondsman at You Ring We Spring bail bonds in North Las Vegas declined to comment.

Simpson was freed Sept. 19 on $125,000 bail following his arrest on allegations he and several friends burst into a Las Vegas hotel room and robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint.

Simpson has maintained that he was retrieving items that belonged to him. He and the two other men are scheduled to stand trial April 7.

His lawyer, Yale Galanter, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson stood before a judge Wednesday and firmly spoke a phrase he has uttered in other courtrooms in the past: “Not guilty.”

This time the former football star was arraigned, along with two other men, on suspicion of kidnapping and armed robbery of sports memorabilia dealers in a strange case that has ballooned to 12 charges that could send Simpson and the others to prison for life.

Simpson’s notoriety, gained from past trials on charges of murder and road rage, looms in the background of the Las Vegas episode. His lawyer said jury selection would be an “onerous” task that would probably last longer than the trial itself.

“I am very concerned that we get 12 people on the jury that can listen to the evidence that occurs in the courtroom,” attorney Yale Galanter said on the courthouse steps. “People are going to have opinions.”

Simpson’s co-defendants, Charles “Charlie” Ehrlich, 53, and Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, 53, also entered not guilty pleas, and Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass set trial for all three men on April 7.

Ehrlich’s lawyer, John Moran Jr., said he would challenge the most recent charging document as vague and a list of potential witnesses as violating his client’s Fifth Amendment rights.

District Attorney David Roger listed 78 potential witnesses, including Ehrlich and Stewart, an odd choice since prosecutors may not compel defendants to testify.

Moran said it would be impermissible for the prosecutor to call them “if this tortured process does proceed to trial.”

Glass appeared impatient with Moran’s argument and said she would consider written motions when they are filed. She moved quickly through the arraignments, requiring Simpson and the others to state their ages, education and that they could understand English.

Simpson appeared relaxed and cheerful before court convened, chatting with his lawyers and a few friends in the courtroom. He did not comment about the case and confined his remarks to small talk.

“Mr. Simpson is glad that the arraignment is over with. He’s glad that he doesn’t have to come back to Vegas until April,” Galanter said.

While the lawyer said he would be pleased to have the case resolved without a trial, he said that seemed unlikely unless prosecutors dismissed all charges. A plea bargain, he suggested, was not on the table.

“I don’t know what my client did wrong,” Galanter said. “And that’s why it would be difficult for us to enter into any kind of a plea agreement. It wasn’t a trespass because he was invited into the room. It wasn’t a robbery because it wasn’t the unlawful taking of someone else’s property.”

The prosecutor declined to comment outside court.

Simpson landed in court after leading an odd raiding party in a Sept. 13 hotel room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers to take collectibles and family heirlooms he claimed were his.

Simpson, 60, of Miami, has maintained that he intended only to retrieve items that had been stolen from him by a former agent, including photographs, football awards and the suit he wore the day he was acquitted of murdering his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Prosecutors allege the heist netted tens of thousands of dollars of sports collectibles that didn’t belong to Simpson.

At a colorful preliminary hearing two weeks ago, there were accounts of an angry scene inside the Palace Station casino hotel room during which a cursing Simpson loudly demanded his possessions.

Threats were made and guns allegedly were drawn by two men originally charged in the case. Those men and another cohort were given plea bargains with the possibility of probation in return for their testimony against Simpson, Ehrlich and Stewart.

Simpson maintains that he never saw any guns at the scene and had not asked anyone to bring guns.

The preliminary hearing offered the first view of a cast of witnesses described by Galanter as “a defense attorney’s dream” because of their credibility problems. One of them admitted he would have changed his testimony to favor Simpson if he had been paid enough.

Simpson has faced juries before. After his murder acquittal in 1995 in a sensational Los Angeles case dubbed “The trial of the century,” he was later found liable for the deaths in a civil case and ordered to pay $33.5 million.

In 2001, Simpson, who had moved to Florida, was cleared of all charges in a case involving a suspected road rage incident. Galanter represented him in that case.

Simpson and the others won’t have to return to the Las Vegas courtroom until the trial begins, the judge ruled.

Afterward, Simpson was whisked away from the courthouse in a black SUV, rolling down a window to smile at the crowd of reporters and cameras.

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson returns to court Wednesday to enter a plea and get a trial date in the alleged kidnapping and armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers.

Simpson and co-defendants Clarence “C.J.” Stewart and Charles “Charlie” Ehrlich are expected to plead not guilty to 12 charges lodged against them two weeks ago, after a justice of the peace determined there was enough evidence for them to stand trial.

The arraignment for the former football star should be brief - but Galanter added, “There’s nothing in this case that has been standard.”

Indeed, a 3 1/2-day preliminary hearing offered a nationally televised glimpse of what could come at trial - with sometimes stunning testimony from witnesses including the two men who say they were robbed at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room and three former co-defendants who accompanied Simpson but took plea deals in return for their testimony.

Simpson, Stewart and Ehrlich each face kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, coercion and conspiracy charges. A kidnapping conviction could bring a life sentence with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery conviction carries mandatory prison time. (more…)

LAS VEGAS — In an earlier time, Jackie Glass would have been covering O.J. Simpson’s trial instead of presiding over it.

Before becoming a lawyer and being elected a Clark County District Court judge, Glass was a television journalist covering courts in Las Vegas. She met her husband, then a deputy district attorney and now a Las Vegas city councilman, in the courthouse hallways.

“She’s got some experience covering and being around high-profile cases,” said Steve Wolfson, a defense lawyer who married Glass the same month she received her law degree in 1984 from the University of San Diego School of Law. “I have every confidence in the book that she’ll do a great job on this case.”

Glass, in her fifth year of a six-year term, has handled several celebrity cases, but nothing as headline-grabbing as the hotel-room confrontation in which Simpson and two other men are accused of kidnapping and robbing two sports memorabilia dealers.

Through her administrative clerk, Glass declined to comment.

Glass, 51, practiced law for almost 20 years, focusing on civil law for more than a decade as a partner with her husband.

In 2002, she raised and spent more than $400,000 to win a seat on the bench paying about $130,000 a year. She defeated a judge who spent more than $280,000 but lost his bid for a third term after Glass accused him of being soft on crime.

By the end of her first year on the bench, Glass helped establish a county mental health court, and she pushed for creation of a competency court in 2005 to review the mental ability of defendants to stand trial.

Glass sent former NFL kicker Cole Ford to a state mental hospital in 2005 after finding him incompetent to stand trial for shooting at the Las Vegas home of entertainers Siegfried & Roy. Ford later agreed to a plea deal that required him to continue mental health treatment.

Glass also oversaw the jury trial of a California minister and his wife who were convicted of trying to extort millions of dollars from the husband of singer Celine Dion. Ae Ho Kwon’s wife, Yun Kyeong Kwon Sung, claimed the singer’s husband, Rene Angelil, raped her.

Before trial, Glass made a crucial ruling that Angelil was not properly served with a subpoena, and Angelil didn’t have to testify. The Nevada Supreme Court is considering an appeal from Kwon and Sung, whose lawyers argue they should have been able to confront their accuser.

More recently, Glass was assigned the case of husband-and-wife professional bodybuilders Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan, accused of slaying their live-in assistant, Melissa James. The trial is set to begin in June.

Glass has dropped in ratings by county bar association members, from 80 percent favoring retention in 2004 to 71 percent in 2006. Ratings are compiled every two years by the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper.

One critic surveyed in 2004 said Glass worked hard and meant well but needed training in “rules of evidence, law and procedure.”

A veteran defense lawyer said Glass today is tough, fair, knowledgeable about the law, and “sensitive to both sides of the aisle.”

“She can take the bull by the horns and make tough decisions,” John Momot said. “She does not cave in.”

LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson and two co-defendants are expected to plead not guilty Wednesday to 12 charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The former football star and his lawyers contend that no guns were displayed and that he intended only to retrieve items that had been stolen from him, including photographs, football awards and the suit he wore the day he was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Prosecutors allege the heist in Las Vegas netted tens of thousands of dollars of sports collectibles that bore no connection to Simpson. (more…)

LOS ANGELES — No matter how O.J. Simpson’s hotel-room robbery trial plays out, he can plan on seeing Fred Goldman’s lawyers in court again.

A taciturn 66-year-old whose gray hair and handlebar mustache have made him familiar to followers of the Simpson saga, Goldman speaks forcefully but rarely angrily when he talks of hounding the former football star he believes stabbed his son, Ron Goldman, and Simpson’s ex-wife to death in 1994.

“Our intent is to continue to pursue him, to continue to hold him accountable and responsible for Ron’s murder,” he said during a recent phone interview from his daughter’s home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita. “And we’re going to continue to do that until he’s dead.” (more…)