Third O.J. Simpson co-defendant to plead guilty

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A third defendant in the O.J. Simpson memorabilia robbery case told a Las Vegas judge on Monday that he would plead guilty and testify against the former football star, a court official said.

Michael McClinton, 49, has reached a deal with prosecutors to testify against his co-defendants, including Simpson, in exchange for a more lenient sentence, Clark County courts spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

"He indicated in court this morning that he would plead guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and a robbery charge," Sommermeyer said.

Sommermeyer said it was not yet clear how much prison time McClinton could face. The charges carry a maximum punishment of 11 years in prison, but he was expected to receive much less under the plea agreement.

McClinton was one of five men charged in September along with Simpson, 60, in what prosecutors say was an armed robbery at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Simpson, who was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in 1995 though the trial left his reputation in tatters, was charged in the Las Vegas case with armed robbery, assault and kidnapping. He pleaded innocent and was freed on $125,000 bail pending his next court date.

Walter Alexander, 46, and Charles Cashmore, 40, each pleaded guilty in October to one robbery charge and agreed to testify for prosecutors.

Simpson and his remaining two co-defendants, Clarence Stewart and Charles Erlich, face preliminary hearings on November 8 and 9, when a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to order them bound over for trial.

Prosecutors say the men stormed into the hotel room of sports collectors Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong at the Palace Station hotel and took thousands of dollars worth of Simpson's own memorabilia at gunpoint.

Simpson has said he did nothing wrong and was trying to retrieve his own personal photos, his football Hall of Fame certificate and other items he said had been stolen from him.

He was cleared of the stabbing murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and her friend Ron Goldman, 25, by jurors but two years later a civil court jury found him responsible for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the victims' families.