This Sunday, shortly after midnight, Orenthal James Simpson, a.k.a. O.J., began his new life, after serving nearly a decade behind bars.
Simpson served nine years of a 33-year sentence for a botched armed robbery and kidnapping. Simpson was picked up by an unidentified associate during the wee hours Sunday morning to avoid media attention.
According to CNN, Brooke Keast — a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, where Simpson was imprisoned — said that he was in good spirits as he entered the next chapter of his new life. “I told him, 'Don't come back,' and he responded, 'I don't intend to,'" she said. "He was upbeat, personable and seemed happy to get on with his life."
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"Our biggest concern was our safety and the public's safety and not wanting anybody, paparazzi, to follow him," Keast said according to CNN. "He left through a big blue door through the front gatehouse and exited quietly. He looked down because he didn't want to be photographed."
In 1994 the former football player’s life was turned upside down after being accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. He was acquitted in 1995.
Due to the media frenzy and controversy surrounding the murder, decades later the “trial of the century” and the many people involved, remained fixed in popular culture. The 2016 ESPN documentary about the former athlete’s life, O.J.: Made in America, won an Oscar and an Emmy. A scripted series about the actual trial, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, also racked up nominations and awards, including a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy.
His longtime friend, Tom Scotto did make it clear at Simpson’s parole hearing that we’ll be seeing more of him.
"He's not going to hide," Scotto said, as noted by CNN. “He's going to focus on kids, friends, his family and golf. Maybe not the first day or second, but he is going to go out."
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