Former NFL star tries to avoid life in prison on kidnapping and armed robbery charges

*The fate of O.J. Simpson will be in the hands of an all-white jury of 12 when opening arguments begin today in his trial on kidnapping and armed robbery charges in Las Vegas.

The selection process began back in mid-August when 500 prospective jurors filled out a 26-page questionnaire. The judge wanted to be sure that jurors would not be biased against Simpson, who is African-American, and was acquitted of the 1994 slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, both of whom were white.

“If you are here thinking you are going to punish Mr. Simpson for what happened in Los Angeles in 1995 this is not the case for you,” said Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass last Monday, according to the Associated Press. “I mean really, truly, folks. I’m not kidding around. Can you put that aside and understand that the case we are trying here and the info you’re going to hear about here is totally separate from that case?”

Simpson, 61, faces 12 faces life in jail on charges stemming from a confrontation in a hotel room in September 2007 after which he and a gang of gun-toting cohorts left with pillow cases stuffed full of sports memorabilia. In the state of Nevada, kidnapping and armed robbery both carry potential life sentences.

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