Court plans for crowd at Simpson’s sentencing

Spectators hoping for a courtroom seat for O.J. Simpson's sentencing Friday morning will need a lot of patience and a bit of luck.

Most of the courtroom will be filled with media, relatives of the co-defendant and others related to the case, but court officials have reserved about 15 seats for the public. Those seats will be raffled off, leaving the rest to watch on TV from an overflow courtroom or home, courts spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

The Regional Justice Center opens at 7:15 a.m. About 15 minutes later, the raffle tickets will be given to people waiting outside courtroom 15A, where District Judge Jackie Glass will sentence Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, Sommermeyer said.

The tickets will be chosen randomly, and overflow crowds will be directed to another courtroom to watch the 9 a.m. hearing on television.

Sommermeyer said anyone not directly associated with the Las Vegas case will be treated as members of the public.

For people who do not plan on trekking to the courthouse, cable channel truTV will air the hearing live until noon, if it goes that long. News networks such as CNN and Fox News Channel were expected to air parts of the hearing.

TruTV is channel 54 on Cox Cable, 246 on Directv and 204 on DISH Network.

Simpson and Stewart face up to life in prison after being convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery in the Sept. 13, 2007, hotel room holdup of two sports memorabilia dealers at Palace Station.