OJ Simpson gets July 20 parole hearing date in Nevada

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Imprisoned former football star O.J. Simpson has a July 20 parole hearing that could have him released from a Nevada prison on Oct. 1, a state parole official said Tuesday.

Simpson, now 70, has served more than eight years of a nine-to-33 year sentence imposed after he was found guilty in 2008 of armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges stemming from a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at in a Las Vegas casino hotel room in September 2007.

Simpson is due to appear by videoconference from Lovelock Correctional Center, where he is being held, before a panel of four parole commissioners sitting in Carson City, parole official David Smith said.

Simpson has always maintained he was trying to retrieve personal mementoes stolen from him following his 1995 acquittal in the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.

Ten years later, the hall-of-fame football star, actor and advertising pitchman was living in Miami when he traveled to Las Vegas for a friend's wedding.

Stewart avoided a retrial by pleading an equivalent of no contest to felony robbery and conspiracy.