O.J. Simpson is set to face a parole board on July 20, the Nevada Department of Corrections announced today.
Simpson was arrested in 2007 during a botched robbery in Las Vegas when he led a group of men into a hotel and casino to steal his own sports memorabilia at gunpoint. He was charged with a number of felony counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery. He was found guilty and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He is serving his time at Lovelock Correctional Facility in Nevada.
The former football star contended the memorabilia and other personal items belonged to him. His bid for a new trial in the case was rejected in 2013, but he was granted parole that same year on some of the charges, based on good behavior. He was not released from prison at that time, since his prison sentences were set to run consecutively. Simpson had to wait until this year to appear again before the parole board.
If Simpson is granted parole next month, he would be released in October. If not, commissioners will decide the date of the next parole board meeting, which could be as far away as five years.
Simpson’s friend, Tom Scotto, told ABC News that Simpson is "hopeful." Scotto said if Simpson is freed, he would want "to just keep a low profile, be with his kids, be with his family, play golf."
Simpson, who will turn 70 in July, was acquitted more than 20 years ago of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. The two were found on June 12, 1994, stabbed to death at her Los Angeles home.
A civil jury later ordered Simpson to pay $33.5 million in damages after finding him liable for wrongful death in the double murder.
Goldman's family told ABC News earlier this year they cannot bear the idea of Simpson as a free man.
"Disgust," Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, said when asked what it would look like to him if Simpson was paroled.
Added Ron Goldman's sister, Kim Goldman, "He committed a horrible heinous crime, and I have no feeling except rot in hell."
