You would think that after getting away with the murder of his former wife in the most important case of the 90's O. J. Simpson would have learned his lesson. Instead of avoiding jail and enjoying his get out of jail free pass, he ends up doing something stupid again and this time he's getting the jail time that he deserves. Don't let him of easy. He decided to rob a hotel and this time he is not getting away with it. He looks at 9 years in jail and possibly as much as 33.

A broken O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to at least nine years in prison and as many as 33 years for a hotel armed robbery after a judge rejected his apology and said, "It was much more than stupidity."

The 61-year-old football Hall of Famer stood shackled and stone-faced when Judge Jackie Glass quickly rattled off his punishment soon after he made a rambling, five-minute plea for leniency, choking back tears as he told her: "I didn't want to steal anything from anyone. ... I'm sorry, sorry."

Simpson said he was simply trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and other mementos, including his first wife's wedding ring, from two dealers when he stormed a Las Vegas hotel room on Sept. 13, 2007.

But the judge emphasized that it was a violent confrontation in which at least one gun was drawn, and she said someone could have been killed. She said the evidence was overwhelming, with the planning, the confrontation itself and the aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.

Glass, a no-nonsense judge known for her tough sentences, imposed such a complex series of consecutive and concurrent sentences that even many attorneys watching the case were confused as to how much time Simpson got.

Simpson could serve up to 33 years but could be eligible for parole after nine years, according to Elana Roberto, the judge's clerk.

The judge said several times that her sentence in the Las Vegas case had nothing to do with Simpson's 1994 acquittal in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else," Glass said. Simpson was immediately led away to prison after the judge refused to permit him to go free on bail while he appeals. Simpson's co-defendant and former golfing buddy, Clarence "C.J." Stewart, also was sentenced to at least 15 years.

Outside court, Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, and sister, Kim, said they were delighted with the sentence. "We are thrilled, and it's a bittersweet moment," Fred Goldman said. "It was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs." The Goldmans took a measure of credit for Simpson's fate, saying their relentless pursuit of his assets to satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment "pushed him over the edge" and led him to commit the robbery to recover some of his sports memorabilia. Simpson and Stewart were both brought to the courtroom in dark blue jail uniforms, their hands shackled to their waists with chains.

Simpson, who looked weary and had not been expected to speak, delivered a somber statement to the judge. As he spoke in a hoarse voice, the courtroom was hushed. His two sisters, Shirley Baker and Carmelita Durio, sat in the front row of the courtroom, along with his adult daughter. Both men were convicted Oct. 3 of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery. "As stupid and as ill-conceived as it was, it wasn't something that was from this evil mind they teach us about," Simpson attorney Yale Galanter said before sentencing. "Not bright, not smart, not well thought out, but certainly not from an evil mind," Galanter said.

Most of the 63 seats in the courtroom were taken by media, lawyers and family members of the defendants. Fifteen members of the public were also allowed. After sentencing was over, the Goldmans left the courtroom and Kim threw her arms around her father and wept. Simpson's sisters declined to comment, but Shirley Baker said on her way out: "It's not over." Jurors who heard 13 days of testimony said after the verdict that they were convinced of Simpson's guilt because of audio recordings that were secretly made of the Sept. 13, 2007, robbery at the Palace Station casino hotel.

The confrontation involved sports memorabilia brokers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. It was recorded by collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio, who was acting as middleman. "Don't let nobody out of this room!" Simpson commands on the recordings, and instructs other men to scoop up items he insists had been stolen from him.

On Tuesday, Glass is scheduled to sentence four former co-defendants who took plea deals and testified against Simpson and Stewart. Michael McClinton, Charles Cashmore, Walter Alexander and Charles Ehrlich could receive probation or prison time. McClinton could get up to 11 years; the others face less.

Portion from Associated Press

Associated Press
WASHINGTON - General Motors Corp. President Fritz Henderson said Wednesday bankruptcy isn't a viable option for struggling U.S. automakers, maintaining that a new retooling plan can save the industry.

General Motors is ready to undertake a host of steps needed to resize, Henderson asserted in an interview on NBC's "Today" show as the automakers outline a revised plan for Congress on how they'll preserve their industry.

But Henderson also said that "to win, you've got to win with product and technology. ... And we do not want to give consumers a reason not to buy our cars and trucks."

The interview came as leaders of the United Auto Workers were still discussing further concessions at an emergency meeting in Detroit. Under consideration were the possibility of scrapping a much-maligned jobs bank in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay and postponing the automakers' payments into a multibillion-dollar union-administered health care fund.

Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. — as well as GM — have ditched their corporate jets for hybrid cars and replaced vague pleas for federal help with detailed requests for as much as $34 billion in their second crack at persuading Congress to throw them a lifeline.

Henderson acknowledged Wednesday that the initial appearances by the heads of the car makers was a public relations failure.

"Yeah, it certainly was not our finest hour," he told NBC. "We were not as clear about what we wanted to do." He also conceded that the decision by the executives to travel to Washington by private jet "was a problem" for lawmakers.

Congressional leaders now are reviewing three separate survival plans from the three automakers as they weigh whether to call lawmakers back to Washington for a special session next week to vote on an auto bailout.

In blueprints delivered to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, GM and Chrysler said they needed an immediate infusion of government cash to last until New Year's, and both said they could drag the entire industry down if they fail. Ford is requesting a $9 billion "standby line of credit" that it says it doesn't expect to use unless one of the other Big Three goes belly up.

But Chrysler said it needed $7 billion by year's end just to keep running. And GM asked for an immediate $4 billion as the first installment of a $12 billion loan, plus a $6 billion line of credit it might need if economic conditions worsen. The two painted the direst portraits to date — including the prospects of shuttered factories and massive job losses — of what could happen if Congress doesn't quickly step in.

Democrats voice concerns
Democratic leaders voiced concern and a desire to do something to avert an automaker collapse, but they made no commitments about helping an industry that's made few friends lately on Capitol Hill.

"It is my hope that we would" pass legislation to help the automakers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would lay the groundwork Monday for a possible vote on an auto bailout measure.

In their first round of pleas for a government rescue last month, the Big Three executives arrived in Washington on separate private jets and enraged lawmakers who said they failed to take responsibility for their companies' troubles or justify a federal bailout.

"I think we learned a lot from that experience," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said.

He, as well as GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Chrysler chief Bob Nardelli, are all road-tripping the 520 miles from Detroit to Washington in fuel-efficient hybrid cars for hearings on Thursday and Friday.

Mulally and Wagoner both said they'd work for $1 a year — something Chrysler's plan said Nardelli already does — if their firms took any government loan money. Ford offered to cancel management bonuses and salaried employees' merit raises next year, and GM said it would slash top executives' pay. Ford and GM both said they would sell their corporate aircraft.

All three plans envision the government getting a stake in the auto companies that would allow taxpayers to share in future gains if they recover.

Nevertheless, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the mood in Congress "candidly is not supportive" of the automakers, although he called the consequences of just one of them failing "cataclysmic."

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said the automakers still need to prove they can survive and be profitable. "If these companies are asking for taxpayer dollars, they must convince Congress that they are going to shape up and change their ways," Dodd said in a statement.

His panel is to hear testimony Thursday from the auto executives, UAW chief Ron Gettelfinger, and the head of the Government Accountability Office on the companies' plans.

The House Financial Services Committee is to hold a similar session on Friday.