This combination of Associated Press file photos shows from left, O.J. Simspon on Oct. 3, 1995, after the jury acquitted him in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles; Simpson, center, in court on the first day his trial for armed robbery and kidnapping, on Sept 15, 2008, in Las Vegas; and right, Simpson in Clark County District Court seeking a new trial, claiming that trial lawyer Yale Galanter had conflicted interests and shouldn't have handled Simpson's armed case on May 13, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo)
 

by Ken Ritter

LAS VEGAS (AP) — More than four years after the world last heard from O.J. Simpson in court, one of the nation's most famous prisoners spoke again Wednesday in a bid to win freedom from a sentence that could keep him behind bars until he dies.

Simpson took the stand to testify about his legal representation by attorney Yale Galanter in the case involving a strange hotel room confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers that led to a conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping.

Under questioning by his co-counsel, Patricia Palm, Simpson discussed his background with Galanter and the hotel incident.

"Yale had a good relationship with the media," Simpson said.

"I was in the media a lot. He was able to refute many of the tabloid stories," Simpson said with a laugh. "He sort of liked doing it; he told me he did."

The 65-year-old former football star and actor, now with short graying hair, receding hairline and dressed in drab prison uniform, spoke clearly and confidently as he recounted events leading up to the confrontation in a hotel room where the dealers had Simpson footballs and family photos.

During the trial, two co-defendants who took plea deals and testified for the prosecution, said they had guns. Simpson, however, was adamant Wednesday that he never asked anyone to bring weapons.

"There was no talk of guns at all," he told Palm.

Simpson's voice cracked a bit as he recounted recognizing items on the hotel room bed, including framed photos that used to hang on the wall of his Los Angeles home.

"Look at this stuff. Some of the stuff I didn't really realize was gone. These were things I hadn't seen in 10 years," he said. "You know, you get a little emotional about it."

Simpson told his attorney he believed he was allowed to take the items.

In 2008, Simpson was near tears as he told a judge: "I didn't mean to steal anything from anybody. ... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it."

There is no jury in the hearing and his fate will be determined by Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell.

Unlike previous days of the hearing, the courtroom was full, with Tracy Baker, daughter of Simpson sister Shirley Baker, Charles Durio, husband of Simpson's deceased sister, Carmelita, in the second row. Also on hand was Tom Scotto, a Simpson friend from Miami whose wedding brought Simpson to Las Vegas.

A marshal turned people away, sending more than 15 people to an overflow room where video was streamed live.

When he went to trial in 2008, Simpson did not testify — a decision that one of his lawyers said was pushed upon him by Galanter.

With 19 points raised to support reversal in the writ of habeas corpus, Simpson was expected to answer many questions from his lawyers and then undergo cross-examination by an attorney for the state who wants to keep him in prison.

Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in prison for his conviction on armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges.

Earlier, attorney Gabriel Grasso was Simpson's star witness, the Las Vegas lawyer who joined the case when his old friend, Galanter, called and said, "Hey, Gabe, want to be famous?"

He said he soon realized he would be doing most of the behind-the-scenes work while Galanter made the decisions.

"I could advise O.J. all day long, and he was very respectful of me," Grasso told the court. "But if I advised him of something different from what Yale said, he would do what Yale said."

It was Galanter's decision not to have Simpson testify, Grasso said.

Under questioning from H. Leon Simon, attorney for the state, Grasso acknowledged the trial judge, Jackie Glass, specifically asked Simpson if he wanted to testify and he said no.

"Mr. Galanter told him, 'This is the way it's going to be,'" Grasso said, adding he would have put him on the stand.

He said Simpson's confidence in Galanter was born of the acquittal he gained for Simpson in a road rage case in Florida five years after his 1995 acquittal on murder charges in the stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

Galanter is now the focus of Simpson's motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel and conflict of interest. He has declined to comment until he takes the stand Friday.

There are questions of money, too. Grasso accused Galanter of lining his own pockets while telling him they were "operating on a shoestring" and couldn't afford to hire expert witnesses. Simpson's business attorney, Leroy "Skip" Taft, testified by phone Tuesday that he kept getting big bills from Galanter but no explanation of what costs were eating up hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Witness after witness spoke of a proposed plea bargain that Galanter turned down on Simpson's behalf but no one was sure the defendant knew about it.

There were rumors that Galanter gave his blessings to Simpson's plan to show up at the hotel room and reclaim his memorabilia, which two dealers were trying to peddle.

Retired Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who prosecuted Simpson, was asked whether investigators determined if Galanter helped Simpson plan the hotel room confrontation.

"He said he did not advise Mr. Simpson to commit armed robbery," Roger said.

"And he said he wasn't there?" asked Simpson attorney Ozzie Fumo.

"Yes," Roger replied.

Others have testified that Galanter was in Las Vegas and had dinner with Simpson the night before.

The other prosecutor, Chris Owens, testified about discovering phone calls between the two but hiding that fact from the judge. He identified at least 10 calls in the days preceding and on Sept. 13, 2007.

Both prosecutors described an agreement with the Simpson defense that was read to the jury saying there were no calls.

"So you stipulated to events that weren't true?" Fumo asked Owens.

"It was in the form of a legal construct," Owens replied and said the judge encouraged it because she didn't want to confuse the jury with another issue.

This is Simpson's last chance under state law to prove that he was wrongly convicted. A federal court appeal is still possible.

Find Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr

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(Diane Bondareff/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) - Columbia University is seeking to change the terms of a fellowship that can only be awarded to White students from Iowa.

The Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellowship stipulates that money be given only to "a person of the Caucasian race."

Roberts left Columbia most of her $509,000 estate when she died in 1920 and created the highly restrictive fellowship. In addition to the "Whites only" rule, Roberts fellows must be from Iowa, must not study law or several other fields and must return to Iowa for two years after graduating.

University officials filed court papers last week seeking to change the racist provisions of the bequest.

The Daily News reports (http://nydn.us/13l65pi ) that Columbia hasn't awarded the fellowship since 1997.

It's unclear whether or not Columbia has followed this rule, and this isn't the first time someone's spoken up about the grant.

However, the school’s provost at the time, Grayson L. Kirk, defended the racial provision when the NAACP protested it in 1949.

“We do not feel we are justified in depriving some of our students of the benefits of restricted grants simply because they are not available to everyone,” he said. [NY Post]

A Columbia spokesman did not return an email seeking comment Wednesday.

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by Vicki Smith
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Insurance companies will pay $600,000 to a former officer who sued the Sophia Police Department over claims he was harassed and fired because he is Black, Mayor Danny Barr said Wednesday.

JOHN CONYERS JR.

May 15
1911—Kappa Alpha Psi, one of the nation’s leading Black fraternities, is founded on this day on the campus of Indiana University by 10 young men led by Elder W. Diggs and Byron K. Armstrong.

1942—The 93rd Infantry is activated and assigned to combat in the Pacific. It thus became the first African-American division formed during World War II.

May 16
1868—The United States Senate fails by one vote in securing the two-thirds vote needed to convict President Andrew Johnson of the articles of impeachment, which had been brought against him. The failure was a major setback for Black rights in America because Johnson had become a leading opponent of voting rights and economic advancement for the recently freed slaves. While the impeachment trial did not center on Black rights, Blacks would have clearly benefited if Johnson had been expelled from office.

1929—Detroit Representative John Conyers Jr., one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, was born on this day in 1929. He remains one of the most progressive members of the United States Congress.

1966—Janet Jackson, of the famous and talented Jackson family, is born on this day in Gary, Ind. Controversy remains as to whether Janet has a secret daughter.

1990—Sammy Davis Jr. dies in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 64. Davis, born in Harlem, N.Y., was a world class entertainer who performed well as an actor, singer and dancer. He was also a member of Hollywood’s popular and notorious “Rat Pack,” which included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

May 17
1954—The United States Supreme Court renders its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kan.) declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The unanimous ruling was written by Chief Justice Earl B. Warren, who headed one of the most progressive Supreme Courts in U.S. history. The ruling read in part “Segregation of White and Negro children in the public schools of a state solely on the basis of race…denies Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.” The legal team which argued the case was led by later Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal. The ruling also had the effect of undermining all “Jim Crow” or segregationist laws.

1956—Boxing sensation Sugar Ray Leonard is born. The versatile fighter was named “Fighter of the Decade” for the 1980s.

1988—Black Ophthalmologist and inventor Dr. Patricia E. Bath of Los Angeles, Calif., patents an apparatus that efficiently removes cataracts by using laser technology.

May 18
1896—The United States Supreme Court issues its infamous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. The decision declared the doctrine of “separate but equal” was constitutional. By doing so it, in effect, approved all Jim Crow or segregationist laws designed to degrade Blacks or keep them separate from Whites. The ruling would stand until the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

1955—Legendary educator Mary McLeod Bethune dies at 79 in Daytona Beach, Fla. Born the 15th of 17 children in Mayesville, S.C., Bethune would rise to become one of the nation’s foremost Black educators and early civil rights activist. She was a driving force behind the founding of Florida’s Bethune-Cookman College.

May 19
1925—Black revolutionary Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on this day in Omaha, Neb. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and a follower of the legendary Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey. For his outspokenness, Earl Little would be brutally killed in 1929 by a Ku Klux Klan type group. A smart and focused student, Malcolm dreamed of becoming a lawyer. But that dream would be crushed by prejudice when one of his favorite teachers told him that was “not a realistic goal for a nigger.” He would end up dropping out of school and moving with his mother to Boston, Mass. He would later travel to New York City where he began a criminal life of petty crimes, but rapidly moved up to coordinating drug, prostitution and gambling rings. With the “heat” on, he moved back to Boston where he was arrested and sentenced to prison on a burglary charge in 1946. By the time he was paroled in 1952, he was a devoted follower of Elijah Muhammad and a small Muslim sect known as the Nation of Islam and had dropped his “slave” last name in favor of being referred to as “Malcolm X.” From 1952 to 1963, he became the primary force behind the building of the Nation of Islam from a sect of fewer than 1,000 members to a national organization of over 30,000 members. But his faith in Elijah Muhammad was crushed when he learned in 1963 that the married and outwardly puritanical Muhammad had had extra-marital affairs with at least six young Nation of Islam women. A bitter separation resulted between Malcolm and the Nation. Malcolm then turned to a more orthodox version of Islam and began to seek closer relations with other Black Nationalist and civil rights groups. He was assassinated at Harlem, N.Y.’s, Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965 by three men associated with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was 39.

1930—Lorraine Hansberry is born in Chicago, Ill. During her short life she becomes one of Black America’s most prolific authors and playwrights. Her most famous play was “A Raisin in the Sun”—which was the first drama written by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. After her death from cancer in 1965, another one of her plays—“To Be Young, Gifted and Black” became a major off-Broadway production.

1952—Eccentric model and singer Grace Jones is born in Spanish Town, Jamaica. In addition to her singing and modeling, her unusual style propels her into a status as one of the icons of the disco and new music scene of the 1970s.

May 20
1743—Touissant L’Ouverture, the father of Haitian independence, is born. Although he was not part of the initial disturbances, L’Ouverture was quickly drafted into leadership of the 1791 Slave Revolt. He converted the random burnings of plantations and killings of unlucky Whites into a full scale revolution against slavery on the island. Under his leadership, the slaves were organized into an effective fighting force which would go on to defeat the British army and the greatest conqueror of the period, France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. Indeed, L’Ouverture’s fighting might was indirectly responsible for the growth of America. Desperate to raise money to fight the Haitians, Napoleon sold the massive Louisiana territory to America at an amazingly low price. L’Ouverture was tricked into attending a phony “peace conference” in France. Once there he was jailed. But the leadership void was immediately filled by one of his lieutenants—Jean Jacques Dessalines who would complete the revolution started by L’Ouverture. Haiti became independent in 1804.

May 21
1862—Mary Patterson becomes the first Black woman in U.S. History to be awarded a master’s degree. She earned it from Oberlin College in Ohio.

2009—NFL star quarterback Michael Vick is released from federal prison after serving 19 months of a 23 month sentence for financing a dog fighting ring. Formerly with the Atlanta Falcons, Vick is now with the Philadelphia Eagles.

2009—A Black man—James Young—is elected mayor of Philadelphia, Miss.,—a town which during the 1960s had the nation’s most racist reputation. Ku Klux Klan members dominated the town and it was known for the mistreatment and unpunished killings of Blacks. One of the most brutal events in the city was the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers. In his 2009 election victory, Young captured 30 percent of the White vote.

1881—Blanche Kelso Bruce is sworn in as a senator from Mississippi. He became the first Black man to serve a full term in the United States Senate. During his service, he advocated for the political and social rights of Blacks, Indians and Chinese immigrants.

1969—Police and National Guardsmen open fire on student demonstrators at predominantly Black North Carolina A&T University, leaving one student dead and five policemen injured.

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