LOVELOCK, NV – JULY 20: O.J. Simpson (R) attends his parole hearing with his attorney Malcolm LaVergne at Lovelock Correctional Center July 20, 2017 in Lovelock, Nevada. Simpson is serving a nine to 33 year prison term for a 2007 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction. (Photo by Jason Bean-Pool/Getty Images)
Although he was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman more than 20 years ago, Simpson was given a lengthy sentence in 2008 after leading an armed robbery involving two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. Seen as retribution, the Nevada judge gave Simpson the harshest penalty possible — nine to 33-years in prison, all on charges that also included kidnapping. Thursday, the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners decided Simpson would only serve the minimum of his sentence, granting him parole. The 70-year-old will be released in October.
The reaction of his early release was as divided as you would expect. It also created a vast array of memes on Twitter, which you can see here.
But even more surprising than his early release is the money the former NFL star made while in prison.
According to calculations made by ESPN, Simpson could have made more than $600,000 during his eight years in prison. And even though he still owes the Goldman family more than $40 million from a 1997 civil judgement, the money is protected by state law because it’s from the former star’s NFL pension.
Here’s ESPN’s math:
O.J. played in the NFL from 1969 to 1979.
NFL players who played before 1982 get a pension credit of $250 per season per month. Multiplying that by his 11 seasons, that’s $2,750 a month.
As part of a settlement in 2011, former players were given an extra payment of $124 per month per season in seasons played before 1975 and $108 per month per season in subsequent years. O.J. played six seasons before ($124 x 6 = $744) and five seasons after ($108 x 5 = $540) 1975. That’s another $1,284.
Adding $1,284 plus $2,750, that’s $4,034 a month.
That’s what O.J. would have made if he elected to start taking out his NFL pension at the age of 55. Getting paid that for 105 months in jail would mean O.J. made $423,570.
But if he waited until 65 — he just turned 70 — he would collect 2.619 times that, according to the formula. That would make his pension $10,565 a month.
Based on 57 months in jail after his 65th birthday, that’s $602,205.
CNN has a thought-worthy article on what could lie ahead for O.J. as he is released from prison. But even if he isn’t behind bars, even if he has a pension, there’s no question that Simpson will still live metaphorical prison the rest of his life.
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.
Photo: Getty
