Lawyers for O.J. Simpson are confident that the former football star is on the verge of having his conviction on armed robbery overturned. Simpson has been fighting to receive a retrial on the grounds that his legal team performed miserably in the 2008 trial and that there legal advice led directly to his conviction, according to the Associated Press.
"He has a very good chance now," Ozzie Fumo, one of Simpson's attorneys told the Associated Press. "I don't think the state was able to counter any of our issues."
Simpson's lawyers are arguing that Simpson's previous lawyer, Yale Galanter, was partially responsible for the poorly planned scheme that had Simpson trying to reclaim memorabilia items from two sports memorabilia dealers. Simpson has maintained since his arrest that he wasn't aware that what he was doing was illegal and that Galanter advised him that as long as he didn't use force Simpson was acting legally.
Simpson's lawyers also made the case that Galanter acted to cover his own role in the plan during the trial and did not act in the best interest of Simpson. Galanter never called on Simpson to testify during the case even though other lawyers advised he do so, according to the Associated Press.
As the hearing ended on Friday it seemed clear that Simpson's legal team had been a catastrophe during the 2008 case. What remains to be seen is if the mistakes made were enough to merit a mistrial from Judge Linda Marie Bell, the Associated Press reports.
Jennifer Carr, a criminal law professor at UNLV, told the Associated Press that the key to the case is to prove that Galanter had a true conflict of interest while representing Simpson.
"An actual conflict is a violation of the right to counsel," Carr said. If Simpson "can succeed in showing that there has been an actual conflict, he need not show that that conflict caused the verdict. Merely showing the conflict is sufficient to show his right to counsel was violated."
If Simpson is able to obtain his freedom he already has plans for how to occupy himself once he leaves prison, he wants to go on a tour of college campuses to talk about the infamous "Trial of the Century." Norman Pardo, a longtime friend of Simpson, told the New York Post that Simpson is excited to go around the country to discuss his side of the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Pardo also revealed to the New York Post what Simpson's plans to eat once he has left prison.
"I want a big ol' ribeye steak," Simpson said. "And a glass of Jack Daniel's on the rocks."
