O.J. Simpson is a free man. The former NFL Hall of Famer was released from Lovelock Correctional Center in Las Vegas after nine years of being incarcerated.
The former Buffalo Bills running back walked out of prison shortly after midnight on Sunday, October 1 — a time that was specifically chosen in order to avoid media attention. The Nevada Department of Corrections confirmed his release with a statement on its Facebook account.
“The Nevada Department of Corrections, in an effort to ensure public safety and reduce the potential for incident, released Orenthal James Simpson #1027820, on October 1, 2017, at 12:08 AM from Lovelock Correctional Center,” the statement read, alongside a photo of Simpson signing papers while wearing a denim jacket, jeans, and white sneakers.
The Nevada Department of Corrections also posted a video of Simpson’s first moment of freedom. As the former athlete exited the facility and walked toward a parking lot, a woman says, “Come on out.”
The disgraced football star, 70, was originally sentenced to a minimum of nine years in prison, after which he would be eligible for parole. He faced a maximum of 33 years after being found guilty of kidnapping and armed robbery in Las Vegas in 2007.
As Us Weekly reported, the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners voted unanimously to release Simpson in July 2017.
“I’ve basically lived a conflict-free life,” the former Hertz spokesperson said during the hearing. “I’m sorry to the people of Nevada. I take full responsibility … If I’d had better judgment, none of this would’ve happened. … I had no intent of committing a crime. … I’ve done my time.”
Simpson was famously acquitted of murder charges in the 1995 killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in what was known as “The Trial Of The Century.” Most recently, the infamous trial was revisited in the award-winning FX true-crime drama The People v. O.J. Simpson, which had a star-filled cast that included Cuba Gooding Jr., John Travolta, David Schwimmer, Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown.
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