Celebrity Mound

O.J. Simpson’s long-time girlfriend Christie Prody has been hospitalized, the apparent victim of a brutal beating, the NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively. Miami police are investigating.

Prody suffered a severe head injury and massive bruises all over her body, sources told The ENQUIRER.

While O.J. says that Prody’s injuries are self-inflicted and explained that the 32-year-old woman went on a drunken binge and fell down, cops aren’t convinced, insiders say.

Investigators said from the damage to Prody’s body, they believe she was beaten. One detective said he has never seen such severe bruises on a woman before.

Police detectives are questioning Simpson at his home today, and are conducting an ongoing investigation into what happened to Prody.

Prody, 32, was rushed to a Baptist Memorial Hospital in Miami Feb 11 after she collapsed at a local gas station.

Police were alerted by hospital authorities after doctors found she was bleeding from her brain — and also had numerous large bruises and abrasions on her face, arms, legs and buttocks.

Prody had spent ten days with O.J.’s friends in San Antonio until she returned to Miami on Feb. 11. Simpson was with her until Feb. 4 when he returned to his Kendall home.

Simpson told police Prody’s wounds were self inflicted and that she had been on a drinking binge.

When Prody was brought into the hospital, there was no trace of alcohol in her blood, sources told The ENQUIRER.

O.J. Simpson is still in jail today after a Clark County judge refused to release the former football great until he raises at least 15% — or $37,500 — of his $250,000 bail.

Simpson’s bail was only doubled despite the prosecution’s request that the Juice’s bail be raised to $1 million and that he be placed under house arrest.

Judge Jackie Glass said the fact that they were back in court today was “mind boggling” after she heard testimony from O.J.’s bondsman Miguel Pereira that he had received “not one cent” from O.J., not even the $40 filing fee. Judge Glass also called O.J. “ignorant and arrogant.”

Pereira testified that Simpson “hasn’t paid any money on [the bail].” It is standard practice that the defendant post a premium, or down payment, of 15% to the bail bondsman.

While Pereira described the November day he received a voicemail from O.J. asking him to pass along a expletive-laced message to his co-defendant — the recording in question was played before the court — most of the trial was spent talking about how O.J. had managed to sidestep any financial risk to gain his first release from jail.
That Simpson didn’t pay anything, “doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot sense to the court,” Judge Glass said.

Simpson’s attorney said he would put up his house as a lien against the bail but Judge Glass said that wasn’t enough.

“I don’t want him out of the jail until he posts that 15%,” she insisted to O.J.’s lawyer who said it would take a few days to raise the money and it was unclear who the new bondsman would be.

Judge Glass also said that if O.J. tried to contact any of his co-defendant — even through a third party — he would be locked up without question until his April 7 trial date.

She said that Simpson had “been locked up…since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance or both.”

When asked if he understood, a tense Simpson said: “I understand 100%, your honor.”

(source)

When O.J. Simpson returns to a courtroom to face armed robbery charges, the former football star will also be facing years of doubts and questions about his acquittal on murder charges more than a decade ago.

A Las Vegas justice of the peace will be asked to determine after a two-day hearing starting Thursday if there is enough evidence to take Simpson and two co-defendants to trial on charges that they robbed two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.

In Simpson’s mind, according to a close friend, the charges are rooted in Simpson being found not guilty in the 1994 slayings of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

“He believes he’s being tried for that now,” said Tom Scotto, 45, a North Miami Beach, Fla., auto body shop owner.

The men arrested in the Sept. 13 incident were brought together by Scotto’s wedding.

Simpson and co-defendants Clarence “C.J.” Stewart and Charles Ehrlich face 12 charges, including kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and coercion. A kidnapping conviction could result in a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery conviction could mean mandatory prison time.

“He’s taking this serious,” Scotto said. “It is serious.”

No one disputes that Stewart, Ehrlich and former co-defendants Michael McClinton, Walter Alexander and Charles Cashmore went with Simpson and California collectibles broker Tom Riccio to meet memorabilia dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong in a casino hotel room.

Simpson has maintained that he wanted to retrieve items he claimed had been stolen from him by a former agent, including the suit he wore the day he was acquitted in Los Angeles.

The case is likely to pivot on Simpson’s contention that he didn’t ask anyone to bring guns, that he didn’t know anyone had guns and that no guns were displayed.

Three of Simpson’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so and are expected to testify against him.

Cashmore, 40, a journeyman laborer, said McClinton displayed a gun.

Alexander, 46, of Mesa, Ariz., told police after his Sept. 15 arrest that he and McClinton carried guns, but that he kept one in his waistband while McClinton displayed his as Beardsley and Fromong were frisked.

“O.J. said `hey, just bring some firearms,’” Alexander said, according to a transcript of his tape-recorded statement to detectives.

McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, who later turned two handguns over to police and surrendered his concealed weapons permit, is expected to bolster that account.

Nevertheless, the prosecution’s case has certain weaknesses, including some unsavory witnesses.

Of the eight men who were in the room with Simpson, six have run afoul of the law before, with convictions for arson, theft, cocaine trafficking and assault among them.

Moreover, Simpson’s lawyers have argued that the men who turned against him lied to win generous plea bargains for themselves.

“He’s got a bunch of people making up anything they can make up, just to get out of trouble,” Scotto said.

Simpson and the others are likely to be bound over for trial “because the burden of proof is such that all they have to show is that some evidence suggests a crime occurred,” said Tom Pitaro, a veteran Las Vegas defense lawyer who teaches trial advocacy at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger and prosecutor Chris Owens declined comment on their plans for the hearing.

The mother of O.J. Simpson’s girlfriend Christie Prody said her daughter is not the type of girl who fools around with the household help.
Defending her 32-year-old daughter against reports that Simpson went ballistic when he learned that Prody supposedly had slept with his gardener, Cathy Bellmore, 54, told the Daily News, “No, that isn’t her. That’s not in her character. She’s never cheated on a boyfriend before.”
The gardener’s wife, Marlene Gonzalez, disagrees.

She has said Simpson showed up at their Miami home on July29, raving about how Prody and her husband, Janos Gonzalez, had had sex earlier that day.

She said she gave the football great the brushoff, but when Simpson saw her husband, Simpson went into a rage and threatened to kill him.
Police came to the home, but no charges were filed, she said.

Bellmore, of Tampa Bay, told The News that Prody and Simpson met in Los Angeles after she waved to him from her car shortly after the shocking murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her pal Ron Goldman.

“He walked up to the car, and they exchanged numbers,” said Bellmore. Prody was 21 at the time.

She said Simpson is only the second boyfriend Prody has had.

Before the Heisman Trophy winner, Prody dated a boy for about three years until graduating from high school in suburban Minneapolis, Bellmore said.

“Christie was always a very shy, quiet girl. She gave me absolutely no trouble whatever,” Bellmore said. Mom said it’s heartbreaking to see her daughter caught up in the latest Simpson melodrama.

“She’s a great person who’s involved in a messy situation,” said Bellmore.

Asked why her daughter doesn’t split from Simpson, Bellmore said, “There’s reasons. I just can’t get into it.”

Asked if it was love that kept Prody tied to him, Bellmore said, “I don’t know what it is anymore.”

(source)

Former gridiron great O.J. Simpson was charged Tuesday with 10 felony counts and one gross misdemeanor by the Clark County district attorney’s office in connection with the now-infamous armed robbery of several memorabilia dealers at a hotel room last Thursday.

Simpson was charged with two counts each of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and first degree kidnapping with the use of a deadly weapon. The DA charged Simpson and three other men with trying to kidnap memorabilia dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong in a Las Vegas hotel room, and of using physical force, “or the immediate threat of such force,” against them.

At one point, while “one or more of his confederates possessing, displaying and/or pointing one or more handguns,” Simpson ripped Fromong’s phone out of his hand, according to the complaint.

A fourth suspect in the case, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, a man police describe as “a key player” in the alleged theft was arrested Tuesday evening and is also in custody.

The litany of charges and Simpson’s no-bail status shocked criminal defense lawyers in Las Vegas, who said that the treatment was connected to Simpson’s celebrity. Simpson could face life in prison on just the kidnapping charge.

“This is way over the top,” attorney Chris Rasmussen told ABCNEWS.com, explaining that he has represented hundreds of defendants charged with more serious crimes who make bail. “If this was a regular case, this would be gross misdemeanor with probation, maybe five years’ supervision. We have guys who shoot up 7-11s and they get out the next day.”

Amy Chelini, a former Clark County prosecutor, was also surprised by the decision to deny bail. “I can’t recall the last time that someone was denied bail,” she explained. “Even the most serious charges, except for capital murder, get bail. I have a lot of clients who are from out of state and get bail. After all, a lot of people who come to this town get in trouble,” she said.

But Simpson spent his second day in a 7-foot by 14-foot cell at the Clark County Detention Center. One of 36 other inmates in a unit, Simpson is given three to four hours of free time while his fellow inmates stay locked in their cells. So far, prison officials say Simpson has been cooperative, asked for a pair of reading glasses and was given a Bible and a book, “The Purpose-Driven Life,” to read.

New questions are being raised about Simpson’s treatment when compared with that of his associates. While Simpson sits in jail, two of his associates were brought in for questioning and then freed on bail. Walter Alexander, who police say brandished a weapon during the alleged robbery, cut a deal with prosecutors and is back in Los Angeles. And Clarence Alexander, whose Vegas home was searched by police who recovered the memorabilia taken in the incident Thursday night, was arrested but freed on $78,000 bail.

“We’re just treating him as we would as if he was anybody else. We’re being professional. We’re not acting as fans. We’re not going down that route,” a jail staffer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

(source)