OJ Simpson
On December 5, 2008, OJ Simpson was convicted of 12 counts of illegal action. The full list (at least according to Wikipedia) is as follows:
Count 1: Conspiracy to commit a crime
Count 2: Conspiracy to commit kidnapping
Count 3: Conspiracy to commit robbery
Count 4: Burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon
Count 5: 1st degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon (Bruce Fromong)
Count 6: 1st degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon (Alfred Beardsley)
Count 7: Robbery with use of a deadly weapon (Bruce Fromong)
Count 8: Robbery with use of a deadly weapon (Alfred Beardsley)
Count 9: Assault with a deadly weapon (Bruce Fromong)
Count 10: Assault with a deadly weapon (Alfred Beardsley)
Count 11: Coercion with a deadly weapon (Bruce Fromong as an alternative to count 5) Count 12: Coercion with a deadly weapon (Alfred Beardsley as an alternative to count 6)
(The person in parenthesis is the person he did it too)
That's quite a list, to say the least. The ex-NFL star stood before a jury made up of 9 women and 3 men, and was found guilty on all 12 counts after the jury debated for 13 hours. Simpson, just 13 years prior, had stood before a different group of jurors, and they decided that he wasn't guilty of a double murder accusation. So when this trial happened, Simpson and his people were concerned that it wouldn't be a fair one, since lots of people thought Simpson should've been convicted in '95.
The story: Simpson held two sports memorabilia dealers in the Palace Station Hotel & Casino before stealing multiple items from them, in September of 2007. Simpson claimed that he was trying to get back some of his own possessions, but he was found guilty of robbery and burglary nonetheless.
Said Yale Galanter, Simpson's lawyer at the time, "I can tell you from the beginning my biggest concern was whether or not the jury would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr Simpson and judge him fairly and honestly."
They had a right to feel that way, but evidence clearly pointed to the fact the Simpson was guilty. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Latrell Sprewell On December 4, 1997, the NBA suspended Warriors' guard Latrell Sprewell for a whole year after Sprewell attacked his coach. During practice on Dec 1, coach PJ Carlesimo told Sprewell to "put a little mustard" on a pass (translation: throw it like you want it to get there; throw it harder). Carlesimo and Sprewell then got into a "verbal confrontation", which ended with Sprewell grabbing his coaches neck and trying to choke him.
He was pulled off his coach by teammates and people of the Warriors' organization, and was told to leave practice. He did, but returned about 20 minutes later to throw a punch at Carlesimo, and was pulled off again. Apparently, Carlesimo and Sprewell had some history, which just added fuel to the fire and the fight.
The 82-game ban (a full season) was eventually reduced to 68 games, but that still cost Sprewell roughly $6 million. After his time was served, the Warriors traded him to the Knicks, who traded him to the Timberwolves in 2003. He was a free agent at the time of OJ Simpson's incident.
Carlesimo was fired by the Warriors at the beginning of the 1999 season, after a dreadful 4-21 start.
The lesson of these stories: don't attack people.
'New Orleans is a Bad Spot for Zion Williamson' coming in a couple days, stay tuned. Until next time.