KEY PLAYERS
The Defendants
O.J. SIMPSON, 60
• Hometown: Miami
• Occupation: Celebrity. Former professional football player, actor, broadcaster and businessman.
• Lawyers: Yale Galanter, Gabriel Grasso
Las Vegas police arrested Simpson on Sept. 16 while he was in town for a friend's wedding. Facing multiple felony counts in connection with a sports memorabilia heist at Palace Station. Claims he was merely taking back what had been stolen from him. The former Heisman Trophy winner is infamous for being acquitted in the slayings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994.
CLARENCE STEWART, 53
• Hometown: North Las Vegas
• Occupation: Mortgage broker
• Lawyers: Jose Pallares, Robert Lucherini
• Simpson golfing buddy who acted as a concierge for Simpson on his Las Vegas trips. Facing charges identical to Simpson's. Pleaded guilty in 1987 to possessing cocaine in Baton Rouge, La., and received two years' probation.
CHARLES EHRLICH, 53
• Hometown: Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.
• Occupation: Real estate agent
• Lawyers: John Moran Jr., J.T. Moran III
• Simpson acquaintance in town for the same wedding Simpson attended. Facing charges identical to Simpson's. Convicted in the early 1990s of trafficking cocaine.
THE DEALMAKERS
MICHAEL MCCLINTON, 49
• Hometown: Las Vegas
• Occupation: Security
• Lawyer: Bill Terry
• Authorities believe McClinton provided the two handguns and waved one during the heist. Agreed to plead guilty to robbery and conspiracy charges and to testify against Simpson and the other defendants.
WALTER ALEXANDER, 46
• Hometown: Mesa, Ariz.
• Occupation: Real estate agent
• Lawyer: Robert Rentzer
• Former Simpson golfing pal who carried a gun into the hotel room but kept it holstered during the robbery, authorities said. Agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and testify against the co-defendants. His criminal record includes an arrest in Los Angeles in 1987 on kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon charges, which were dismissed.
CHARLES CASHMORE, 40
• Hometown: Las Vegas
• Occupation: Laborer
• Lawyer: Edward Miley
• Met Simpson at a bar at the Palms just 30 minutes before the charge on the room at the Palace Station. Pleaded guilty and bargained the charge to a misdemeanor with the likelihood of probation. Charged with felony theft in 1996 in an embezzlement case in Provo, Utah.
THE MEMORABILIA COLLECTORS
BRUCE FROMONG, 53
• Hometown: North Las Vegas
• Occupation: Sports memorabilia dealer
• Calls himself a friend of Simpson's. Testified for the defense at Simpson's civil trial, telling jurors that the market for Simpson's autograph had slowed since his acquittal. After the Palace Station incident, suffered a heart attack and spent several days in a California hospital before being released.
ALFRED BEARDSLEY, 45
• Hometown: Burbank, Calif.
• Occupation: Memorabilia dealer
• A longtime collector of Simpson paraphernalia, he has helped families of slaying victims Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson in their efforts to obtain Simpson memorabilia to help satisfy the families' $33.5 million civil judgment. In 1995, pleaded no contest to selling a pirated version of the baseball movie "The Rookie." Convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2000. In 2004, he was convicted of stalking a waitress, receiving probation. Later violated a restraining order and was sentenced in 2005 to a California prison. Has been jailed in Las Vegas since shortly after the memorabilia incident for violating parole.
THE SETUP MAN
THOMAS RICCIO, 44
• Hometown: Corona, Calif.
• Occupation: Auction house owner, auctioneer
• Part owner of Universal Rarities in California. Made headlines by bringing Simpson to a horror convention in Los Angeles for an autograph signing after Simpson was acquitted of murder. In the mid-1980s, convicted of felony grand larceny in Florida. In 1994, a California jury convicted him of receiving thousands of dollars worth of stolen rare coins. A year later he pleaded no contest to felony arson and possession of flammable material and was sentenced to more than six years in a California prison.
THE PROSECUTORS
DAVID ROGER, 46
• District attorney
• Prosecutor for 16 years, Roger is known as a soft-spoken but tenacious attorney. Received law degree from California Western School of Law in 1986, joining the district attorney's office the next year. Elected district attorney as a Republican in 2002, and re-elected in 2006. Roger has personally handled high-profile cases as district attorney, including the first prosecution of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish in the death of casino executive Ted Binion, as well as the case of siblings Beau and Monique Maestas in the 2003 knife attack that killed one little girl and paralyzed her sister.
CHRISTOPHER OWENS, 53
• Chief deputy district attorney
• Prosecutor with the Clark County district attorney's office since 1981. Team chief of the major violators unit. Assisted in the prosecution of Margaret Rudin, convicted of murdering her real estate magnate husband. Received law degree from McGeorge School of Law at the University of Pacific.
THE JUDGE
LAS VEGAS JUSTICE OF THE PEACE JOE M. BONAVENTURE, 31
• Took the bench in 2005. His father, Joseph Bonaventure, was a well-known judge who presided over many high-profile cases. The younger Bonaventure was criticized for his relative inexperience when he ran in 2004. He served as a clerk for District Judge Kathy Hardcastle and briefly as a deputy with the Clark County district attorney's office. He worked in private practice before running for office. He has a law degree from the Boyd School of Law.
Compiled by Brian Haynes and David Kihara.
O.J. SimpsonMore Information
A TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS IN THE SIMPSON CASE Aug. 21: Memorabilia dealer Thomas Riccio tells FBI agents that Simpson wants to televise a confrontation with a collector he believes is peddling stolen Simpson memorabilia. Sept. 12: Simpson checks into The Palms hotel-casino for a friend's wedding, parties late at a casino nightclub. Sept. 13: Simpson contacts former golf buddies, Clarence Stewart, of North Las Vegas, and Walter Alexander, of Mesa, Ariz., who also is in Las Vegas for the wedding. They discuss a plan to take sports memorabilia from dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. About 7:30 p.m., police say, the three men and three others meet Riccio, rush into a hotel room at the Palace Station casino and seize items at gunpoint from Beardsley and Fromong. Beardsley and Fromong report incident as armed robbery. Simpson is questioned at Palms hotel. Sept. 14: Police name Simpson as target of investigation. Simpson again is questioned by police. Simpson tells The Associated Press no guns were involved and some of the items belonged to him. Sept. 15: Police arrest Alexander at McCarran International Airport, question him and charge him with assault and armed robbery. He is released without bail. Simpson attends wedding of friend, Tom Scotto, at the Little White Wedding Chapel. Sept. 16: Simpson is arrested at The Palms, questioned by police and booked into the Clark County jail on felony armed robbery, assault and conspiracy charges. A judge orders him held without bail. Police announce they are seeking several other men. Sept. 17: Stewart surrenders to police, turns over items believed to be taken from Beardsley and Fromong, and is released on $78,000 bail. Fromong suffers heart attack, is hospitalized at Los Angeles hospital. Sept. 18: Michael McClinton surrenders to police. District attorney charges Simpson, McClinton, Stewart and Alexander with nine felonies including kidnapping, which carries a possible life sentence. Simpson charged with additional felony count of coercion with a deadly weapon. Sept. 19: Judge sets $125,000 bail for Simpson, who posts bond, is released and returns to Florida. Beardsley is arrested in Las Vegas on California parole violation. Charles Cashmore of Las Vegas, surrenders. Sept. 20: Beardsley appears in Las Vegas court, waives extradition to California, is ordered held without bail. Sept. 21: Cashmore is arraigned and Charles Ehrlich of Miami turns himself in at court on felony charges. Judge sets bail for Ehrlich at $32,000 and $28,000 for Cashmore. Oct. 15: Cashmore and Alexander cut plea deals in return for testimony against Simpson. Cashmore agrees to plead guilty to being an accessory to robbery, Alexander to conspiracy to commit robbery. Oct. 24: New charges of felony coercion are filed against Simpson, Stewart, Ehrlich and McClinton, bringing the total charges to 12. Oct. 29: McClinton agrees to plead guilty to robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in return for testimony against Simpson. McClinton's lawyer says his client will tell the court Simpson asked him to bring guns to the hotel room. Nov. 8: Simpson is in Las Vegas Justice Court for preliminary hearing. Source: The Associated press, Las Vegas police arrest reports, Las Vegas Justice Court records
