.JPG?fit=900%2C676)
The man OJ Simpson robbed at gunpoint 10 years ago has said he’ll be testifying at his parole hearing on Thursday – in support of Simpson’s release.
The only surviving member of the men caught in an armed robbery during Simpson’s raid on sports memorabilia dealers said the former football player has served his time.
WATCH: What’s going to happen at the “parole of the century”.
“I never thought that the crime deserved that much time, that long of a sentence,” his one-time friend Bruce Fromong said to CNN.
In 2008, Simpson was given 33 years for several charges, including kidnapping, robbery and assault, with possible parole after nine.
There were wild reports earlier this week that Simpson had hurt his parole chances after being caught masturbating in his cell, but they were quickly shut down by law enforcement.
“It is against Nevada Dept. of Corrections policy to release inmate disciplinary history to the public,” the prison told TMZ.
“It is also against policy to release inaccurate information. No official from our department would have released the information in question.”
Those close to the ex-footballer have little doubt he’ll be granted parole after being a model prisoner.
Jeffrey Felix, Simpson’s first guard at the Lovelock Correction Centre, said the lure of parole was “all he ever thought about”.
“If you are in O.J.’s shoes and you kept clean for nine years and then you get denied parole, how is that even possible?” Felix told CBS News.
OJ during his notorious murder trial.
“It might destroy him.”
A juror who helped acquit O.J Simpson from his notorious murder trial thinks “it’s obvious” he’ll be granted parole.
“I don’t have any feelings one way or the other, other than I guess it’s obvious that he’s probably going to get parole,” Lionel “Lon” Cryer told Page Six.
“I would only hope that Mr Simpson would realise that he’s been blessed. He’s been given a gift especially with the fact that he wasn’t convicted for killing his wife [Nicole Brown Simpson] and Ron Goldman.
“I would hope that he would actually try to come out and do something productive with his life. Make an obvious effort to try to help somebody else or something like that.
“Try to change his own image if he could. I think that that would work better for him. If possible, try to stay out of the limelight,” Cryer said.
Fred Goldman, the father of Rod Goldman, has said Simpson should remain locked up.
Speaking of his release, one of his attorney’s from the murder trial said it won’t be easy sailing.
While many believe OJ was guilty, at the end of the day, the legal practitioner does believe his client received the justice he deserved.
WATCH: OJ Simpson’s former attorney talk about his acquittal.
“There’s two types of justice that we deal with, in America: there’s moral justice and there’s legal justice,” Robert Shapiro explained
“If you look at it from a moral point of view, a lot of people would say he absolutely did it. I deal in legal justice, as you did as a lawyer, and that’s proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Just like his infamous trial, the former NFL star’s parole hearing will be publicly broadcasted on TV on Thursday and if it’s granted, he’ll walk free on October 1st.
