New Bid to Free OJ Launched

OJ Simpson's new attorney says his client's former lawyers did such a bad job that the former football star deserves a new trial. An appeal document filed yesterday faults the trial strategy of Yale Galanter and Gabriel Grasso, and claims that Galanter helped plan Simpson's effort to retrieve family photos and mementos—an effort that led to Simpson's conviction in 2008 on charges including kidnapping and armed robbery, reports AP. Six people were convicted of felonies in the case, but Simpson, who got nine to 33 years, is the only one still behind bars.

Simpson had no idea that anyone had brought guns to the confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel, where he went to retrieve the mementos, the document claims. "Even after Simpson was arrested, Galanter repeatedly advised Simpson that the state could not prove its case, given the evidence that he intended to reclaim his own property," the file adds. The Nevada Department of Corrections, meanwhile, has denied a National Enquirer report that Simpson has suffered "stroke-like symptoms." The board says Simpson is a model inmate who has had no recent medical issues, and works in a prison gym, sweeping floors and picking up equipment, the Miami Herald reports. (More OJ Simpson stories.)