A LAS VEGAS judge has sentenced OJ Simpson to at least 15 years in prison for a hotel armed robbery, rejecting the former football star's plea for leniency for what he described as an act of stupidity.
Lawyers said yesterday that Simpson (61) will have to serve at least nine years before he is eligible for parole, so he is likely to be over 70 before he emerges from prison.
Appearing in handcuffs and shackles, Simpson made an emotional plea for mercy, claiming that he had only been trying to recover his own personal items, including photos of his family, from sports collectors that he knew.
"I just wanted my personal things," he said.
"I was stupid. I'm sorry. I didn't know I was doing anything illegal. I thought I was confronting friends. I thought I was retrieving my things. I didn't mean to hurt anybody and I didn't mean to steal anything. I just wanted my things back. I thought I was confronting friends and retrieving my property."
Judge Jackie Glass insisted that the sentence was not "payback for anything else," an apparent reference to Simpson's acquittal 13 years ago in the killing of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
The judge was scathing about the former football star, however, pouring scorn on his apology to the court.
"Earlier in this case, at a bail hearing, I said to Mr Simpson I didn't know if he was arrogant, ignorant or both," Ms Glass said.
"During the trial and through this proceeding I got the answer, and it was both."
Simpson was convicted in October of leading a group of armed men into a room at Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where they planned to take sports memorabilia from dealers Bruce Fromong and Al Beardsley.
Simpson claimed yesterday that he had planned to call the police if the dealers refused to hand over the property but the judge said that recordings proved otherwise.
"Everything in this case was on tape. The evidence in this case was overwhelming," she said.
"You went to the room. You took guns. You used force. You took property, and in this state, that amounts to robbery with the use of a deadly weapon."
Goldman's father Fred, who was in the courtroom for the sentencing, expressed satisfaction that the man he claims killed his son will serve a long jail term.
"If our efforts for all these years of pushing him drove him to commit armed robbery in Vegas, great!" he said. "This monster is where he belongs - behind bars."