Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesO.J. Simpson lost his latest gamble in Las Vegas.
A judge has denied the onetime football great's bid for a new trial in the armed robbery case that landed him behind bars for a possible 33 years, his conviction coming 13 years to the day after being found not guilty of the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
"We're obviously very disappointed in the judge's decision," Simpson attorney Osvaldo Fumo told reporters after the 101-page ruling was issued by Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell. "We plan to appeal the case."
Simpson was convicted in 2008, along with several other men, of holding up two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Vegas hotel room in an effort to retrieve items that the disgraced athlete believed rightfully belonged to him.
In his bid for a new trial, Simpson argued that he had inadequate legal counsel the first time around at the hands of his longtime lawyer Yale Galanter.
"All grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently, are denied," Bell said in court.
Calling it the correct decision, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said, "I believe Mr. Simpson received a fair trial and had more than competent counsel." (Wolfson's wife was the judge who presided over Simpson's 2008 trial.)
Simpson is eligible for parole in 2017. If his legal camp appeals Bell's decision to the Nevada Supreme Court and loses, they can try federal court.
The Naked Gun actor was granted parole on the counts for which he serving concurrent prison terms back in July, but he remained jailed based on other felonies for which his sentences were ordered to be served consecutively.
He was found guilty of 10 felonies—conspiracy to commit kidnapping; conspiracy to commit burglary; burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon; and two counts each of first degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon; robbery with use of a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon; and coercion with use of a deadly weapon—and one gross misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime.