SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- A judge on Tuesday gave Fred Goldman
a week to come up with a list of sports memorabilia O.J. Simpson is
accused of stealing from a Las Vegas hotel room, but he refused to
order Simpson to hand over his earnings from everything from
autograph signings to video games.
Simpson was found liable in a wrongful death trial 11 years ago
for the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and
Goldman's son, Ron.
The civil jury returned a $33.5 million judgment against
Simpson, but it remains largely unpaid. The Goldman family has
waged a campaign to claim Simpson's assets since then.
Simpson, who was acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial,
was arrested Sunday after a sports memorabilia collector reported a
group of armed men had charged into his Las Vegas hotel room and
taken several items Simpson claimed belonged to him.
He was being held without bail Tuesday in Clark County Detention
Center on six felonies, including two counts of robbery with use of
a deadly weapon. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in
prison on each robbery count.
Police were seeking an arrest warrant Tuesday for a fourth man,
Michael McClinton, 49, who was expected to face the same six felony
charges, and were looking for two other men whose identities had
not been made public, Officer Ramon Denby said.
One of them men arrested with Simpson, Walter Alexander, said
Tuesday that Simpson may have been tricked because another
memorabilia dealer who tipped him off also recorded everything on
tape.
"It sounds like a setup to me," Alexander told ABC's "Good
Morning America." He said Simpson had thought the memorabilia
belonged to him after getting a call from the dealer.
One of the collectors in the room at the time, Bruce Fromong,
spoke publicly about the incident on Monday and described Simpson
and a group of men coming into the hotel room "commando style."
Later Monday, Fromong had a heart attack and was in critical
condition, a spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles said Tuesday.
Fromong and authorities have said that they don't believe
Simpson had a gun but that some of the men with him did.
The Heisman Trophy winner has been in and out of the spotlight
since he was acquitted of murder in the 1994 deaths of Nicole Brown
Simpson and Ron Goldman.
David Cook, an attorney for Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, said
he believed Nevada authorities would turn over the items seized in
the hotel room dispute after Simpson's criminal case finishes. The
items include Simpson's Hall of Fame certificate, a gold Rolex
watch and the suit Simpson wore on the day he was acquitted, Cook
said.
"He's going to walk out of Clark County empty-handed," Cook
said.
In court in Santa Monica on Tuesday, Cook accused Simpson of
"sitting on a treasure trove of sports memorability" while
ignoring the multimillion-dollar judgment. But both Cook and
Simpson lawyer Ronald Slates said they had no idea what the items
were, and Slates argued it was unclear whether Simpson really owned
any of them.
Cook also filed a new request to get Simpson's watch, which he
described as a Rolex Submariner that he saw the former football
star wearing in a photo featured on the celebrity Web site TMZ.com.
Such watches sell for $5,000 or more, he said.
He also argued that Simpson was wealthy, citing a 2003 tax form
indicating income of $400,000.
Slates noted Simpson has expenses for his three children.
"He has a right, like everybody else, to be protected [under
the law]," Slates said.
Slates also said Simpson has repeatedly offered to settle the
judgment with the Goldman family. Cook replied it would be "a cold
day in hell" when that would happen.
"It is inconceivable that the father of a murder victim would
sit and haggle," Cook said.
Another man suspected in the alleged heist surrendered Monday.
Clarence Stewart, 53, of Las Vegas, lived at one of the residences
that police searched early Sunday to recover some of the
memorabilia. Stewart turned over some of the missing goods,
including autographed footballs, police said.
A fourth man, Tom Scotto, was questioned and cleared of
suspicion after police concluded he was not in the room, reducing
the number of outstanding suspects to two, police said.
Alexander, who faces charges almost identical to Simpson's, said
he went to Las Vegas for a wedding and not to see Simpson. "I just
happened to get caught up in a bad situation," he told ABC.
Simpson's arraignment was set for Wednesday. Yale Galanter,
another Simpson lawyer, said he would ask for Simpson's release on
his own recognizance.
"If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been
released by now," he said.
"You can't rob something that is yours," Galanter said. "O.J.
said, 'You've got stolen property. Either you return it or I call
the police.'"
The Goldmans hope the property never finds its way back to
Simpson.
In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica awarded $8.5 million in
compensatory damages to Ron Goldman's estate and a total of $25
million in punitive damages, divided equally between both estates.
Despite extensive court hearings, however, most of the judgment has
remained unpaid.
In 1999, seized personal property was auctioned off, raising
only $430,000, more than half of it from the sale of Simpson's
Heisman Trophy. The house itself did not generate anything toward
paying the judgment. A bank foreclosed on the home, put it up for
auction and bought it back.
Tuesday's hearing was originally scheduled in connection with
any money the Goldmans say Simpson earned from a video game
featuring his likeness.