Are Times That Tough OJ?
O.J. Slammed for Satellite-TV Swiping
Wed Jul 27, 7:01 PM ET
Next time maybe O.J. Simpson should call the cable guy.
A federal judge in Miami on Tuesday ordered the former football great to pony up $25,000 in damages to DirecTV after allegedly pirating satellite TV signals.
The satellite-TV provider sued Simpson in March 2004, accusing him of piracy after government agents raided his Miami mansion in 2001 and turned up "bootloaders," illicit devices used to unscramble DirecTV's satellite signals.
At the time, the feds were investigating an ecstasy, money-laundering and satellite-theft ring. Simpson was never charged in relation to the probe.
After DirecTV filed suit, his attorney, Yale Galanter, claimed that, despite being a long-time paying customer, the Juice was being squeezed by the company.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard found in favor of DirecTV, and Galanter vowed to appeal on the grounds that Simpson didn't get a fair hearing.
"[The judge] basically denied us our right to a jury trial," Galanter said after the hearing, per the Associated Press. "This was a decision made by a judge in chambers. They said he did it; we say he didn't. A jury should be able to make that decision."
Galanter later told the Los Angeles Times that Simpson wasn't living in the home when the bootloaders were discovered. The attorney said there was "no evidence that [Simpson] knew or should have known" the devices were against the law.
A rep for DirecTV disputed that assertion, telling E! Online the judge's decision vindicated the company's position that the onetime Heisman winner knew full well what he was doing.
"The ruling serves as a reminder that there are consequences to signal theft, whether you're O.J. or John Q. Public," said Robert Mercer, communications director for DirecTV. "The judge made the correct ruling based on the evidence. Our signal-integrity guy walked in the door of the Simpson residence and saw the devices as they were intercepting our programming."
Mercer also discounted Galanter's statements, saying that Simpson did not have a legit DirecTV account.
More than 10 years since he was acquitted for the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, Simpson's legal problems continue to linger.
He wound up on the losing end of a $33.5 million wrongful-death civil suit filed by the families of the victims and has yet to pay the bulk of the award.
In 1997, Simpson and his two children moved from Los Angeles to Miami, purportedly to live a lower-key life. Fat chance.
He was arrested in December 2000 on road-rage charges, allegedly breaking the glasses of a motorist who honked at him; Simpson was eventually acquitted. Then in November 2002, he was slapped with a speeding ticket for racing a powerboat through Biscayne Bay in a zone reserved for endangered manatees. After skipping out on a court date, a warrant was issued for his arrest, but Simpson was able to avoid jail time after showing up for another hearing and paying a fine.
In January 2003, cops were called to the Simpson home after a tearful call from his daughter, Sydney, following an alleged shouting match between her and her father. Police deemed it a family dispute and no charges were filed.
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DeepThought2003
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39
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