Looks like the Juice has dropped the ball again.
O.J. Simpson is back in a Las Vegas jail after allegedly violating the terms of his bail by contacting one of his codefendants in his Sin City robbery case.
Simpson flew commercially from Miami to Las Vegas with his bail bondsman after being taken into custody and is expected to remain locked up in Clark County Detention Center until a hearing Wednesday on District Attorney David Rogers' motion to keep the ex-football star behind bars until trial.
"O.J. did not try to persuade anybody to contact a witness," Simpson attorney Yale Galanter told the Associated Press.
"I can't talk to you guys. I cannot talk to you guys," Simpson said to Miami's WSVN-TV as he prepared to board his flight.
Las Vegas District Court Judge Jackie Glass yanked the onetime NFL Hall of Famer's $125,000 bail after prosecutors presented information that Simpson had disobeyed one of three conditions she set for him to remain free while he awaits trial.
The conditions included having no contact with other individuals involved in the criminal case, surrendering his passport and not leaving the country.
According to court documents, the ex-Hertz pitchman left a voicemail message Nov. 16 with his bondsman, Miguel Pereira, asking him to relay to cohort Clarence "CJ" Stewart his gripes about the latter's testimony at a preliminary hearing.
"Hey, Miguel, It's me," the man ID'd as Simpson says in the transcription (available online at lvcourtsblog.com). "I just want, want CJ to know that the whole thing all the time he was tellin' me that s--t, ya know, I hope he was telling me the truth don't be trying to change the mother f---ing s--t now, mother f---ing a--holes I'm tired of this s--t. Fed up with mother f---ers changing what they told me, alright?"
The exchange came just two days after Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure ruled that Simpson, Stewart and another codefendant should stand trial on 12 charges, including kidnapping and robbery. They have pleaded not guilty to all counts.
An attorney for Stewart told the AP his client was never contacted.
Galanter told the AP that he was "totally miffed" by the prosecution's attempt to use a kosher phone call between Simpson and Perreira, a member of the erstwhile murder suspect's defense team, to revoke his client's bail.
"He was clearly voicing frustration to a member of the defense team who had been providing security, transportation and investigation services," Galanter said. "[Perreira] is clearly now a witness for the prosecution."
If found in violation, Simpson, 60, could be stuck behind bars until the start of his trial Apr. 7.
(Originally published Jan. 11, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. PT)