Former NFL star and actor, O.J. Simpson is asking a state parole board Thursday to release him from jail.
Simpson, 70, is approaching the nine-year minimum of his 33-year sentence for armed robbery and assault with a weapon.
He has a clean record behind bars and if he’s granted parole at his hearing, he would be released in October.
One of his robbery victims is expected to speak at the hearing. The victim has told the Associated Press that he forgives Simpson for the incident.
“Assuming that he’s behaved himself in prison, I don’t think it will be out of line for him to get parole,” David Roger, the retired Clark County district attorney, told the Associated Press.
Four other men who went with Simpson to a hotel room to retrieve from two memorabilia dealers sports collectibles and personal items that the former football star said belonged to him, took plea deals in the heist and received probation.
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He will appear Thursday by video conference from the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, to be quizzed by four state parole commissioners. Two other members of the board will monitor the hearing.
The commissioners will have a parole hearing report that has not been made public, plus guidelines and worksheets that would appear to favour Simpson. It plans to make its written risk assessment public after a decision.
They will consider his age, whether his conviction was for a violent crime (it was), his prior criminal history (he had none) and his plans after release.
The same board delivered Simpson a favourable parole ruling in 2013 on some of the robbery-related charges, leaving him with four years to go on his minimum sentence. A similar decision this time would clear the way for Simpson to walk out of prison on Oct. 1.
The board, which normally takes days to render a decision, has said it will announce its ruling the same day in light of the high-profile nature of Simpson’s case.
In 1995, Simpson was part of a world-famous trial and was acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. He was found liable for the double homicide in a 1997 civil case and owes a $33-million civil judgment, which he will still face if he is granted parole.
— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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