Crime

Search For Real Killers Suffers Setback As O.J. Threatens To Sue Vegas Hotel

Lawyer threatens to sue for at least $100 million, which doesn't sound hyperbolic at all.

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O.J. Simpson and his attorney Malcolm LaVergne (Photo by Jason Bean-Pool/Getty Images)

When O.J. Simpson was paroled from the Nevada prison where he served nine years for armed robbery and kidnapping, most of us expected he would renew his pledge to find Nicole and Ron’s real killers. It’s a search that routinely took him to Florida golf courses throughout the late 90s and that now, apparently, requires a great deal of investigative work at Las Vegas casinos. Unfortunately, someone’s threw a monkey wrench in the Juice’s junior detective plans — the Cosmopolitan casino banned Simpson from their property back in November and his lawyer is now threatening to sue.

Malcolm LaVergne is considering a suit worth at least $100 million, alleging “malice and racial prejudice” behind the casino’s decision to boot the running back.

“The Cosmopolitan Casino discriminately singled out Mr. Simpson amongst his non-African American friends and subsequently expelled him for what turned out to be a fake reason while he peacefully visited the Cosmopolitan property,” LaVergne wrote.

LaVergne said as result of the night, Simpson was contacted by his parole officers and underwent drug and alcohol tests, both of which were negative. LaVergne said while The Cosmopolitan is within its rights to ban an individual, he added that the casino has fostered the perception that the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back and Heisman Trophy winner was intoxicated and unruly.

I’m not sure asking one black guy who also happens to be an infamous ex-convict constitutes racial prejudice, but it’s certainly a posture to take. Still, that doesn’t make it any more acceptable to kick Simpson out if he really did nothing to warrant ejection from the premises. For better or worse, Simpson is a free man who served his jail time for the only crime he’s ever been convicted of. Simpson may not be the most sympathetic ex-con in the world, but before applauding the possibility that he’s being harassed simply for his criminal past, consider the thousands of ex-convicts who face discrimination in trying to get their lives back on track every day. Those people don’t have multi-million dollar wrongful death judgments against them for crimes they’ve graphically described in manuscripts, yet they still face rampant job and housing discrimination just because of their past. Part of having a functional justice system is respecting when it decides someone has paid their debt, even if we all have some definite thoughts about other crimes Simpson wasn’t convicted of.

Was Simpson drunk and disorderly that night? That’s something we’ll have to wait and see about. LaVergne is seeking the Cosmopolitan’s surveillance footage from that night, but even if they show Simpson stumbling around, it’s worth considering he has a history of that:

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Lawyer for O.J. Simpson threatens Las Vegas casino with $100 million lawsuit [USA Today]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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