The Felon Behind O.J.'s Bust - Meet Thomas Riccio: Arsonist, prison escapee, stolen goods

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Posted By: Anonymous

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Posted By: barrysloate

Saw him on Larry King last night. Not too savory a character.

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Posted By: Anthony

A convicted felon running an auction house in California? Who would've thought it possible!

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Posted By: Marc S.

which one?

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Posted By: peter chao

I hate to say it but it looks pretty good for O.J., his testimony is the most reliable evidence that the memorabilia was stolen from him in the first place. The most they can charge him with is criminal assault or something relatively minor like that. This is just a layperson's opinion.

Peter C.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Well, Peter, considering that he's already been charged with much more serious felonies how does that impact your statement about the "most he can be charged with?"

I hope I'm wrong but OJ will not be convicted on this one unless a jury just pays him back for Ron and Nicole. On the first day of Phil Spector's trial I predicted on a TV show that he'd never be convicted of murder. I hope I'm wrong about OJ....

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Posted By: Anonymous

I thought you were an attorney

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Posted By: peter chao

Jeff,

Thanks for correcting me, I meant the most he can be convicted of. I'm not a criminal attorney.

Peter C.

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Posted By: Richard Dwyer

Fromong had a severe heart attack. The other victim Beardsley was arrested today for violation of parole. Apparently he was stalking his ex-wife or someone and was put on parole after serving time. He now faces 2 years for the violation of parole. So his credibility is shot.

O.J. will probally beat this case also.

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Posted By: barrysloate

O.J. is not exactly a sympathetic figure. Don't know what the outcome will be but I bet there are an awful lot of people who would love to see him do some time.

How about 6-12 months? That's not asking for too much. Hey, Paris Hilton got 23 years (or was it days?).

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Posted By: peter chao

Barry,

I'm sure that some people would like to see O.J. behind bars, but our legal system doesn't work that way. Your past criminal conduct should not be taken into account by a jury. The issue is whether or not you committed the current crime.

Peter C.

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Posted By: Bob

Peter- No offense but you are being naive, people with baggage get convicted all the time. I agree with you, it's not right, but it happens. Prosecutors find new and inventive ways of getting around statutes preventing testimony of prior crimes all the time and the legislators have made the exceptions to the rule excluding this testimony big enough to drive a mack truck through.
tbob

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Posted By: Rob

The evidence:

Hank Aaron card sells for $322 in an Auction ending August13th:
<a href="http://www.urauctions.com/site/bid/bidplace.asp?itemid=10852</a" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.urauctions.com/site/bid/bidplace.asp?itemid=10852</a&gt;

Is being offered in an Ebay Live auction now



Same goes for a 1954 Ted Williams, 1954 Ernie Banks, 1893 S silver dollar, 1889 CC silver dollar, 1958 Ted Williams, 1937 Buffalo Nickel, 1963 Fleer set... I suppose the list goes on, but there is a diversity of collectibles listed in their August auction now in their Ebay live aution, that would seem to rule out the possibility of a non paying bidder in their August auction.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Peter, check out Rule 404 (b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence about prior bad acts being used against a defendant in a current case.

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Posted By: Paul Moss

Ahhhhhhhh, it's quite different this time. We're dealing with Nevada, not la la la chi chi California.

Despite being known as Sin City, Las Vegas, more specifically Clark County, once one steps away from the glitzy strip and touristy areas, one finds oneself in one giant retirement community. I mean old folks in gigantic wholesale quantities. This is your Clark County jury pool. As a whole, they border socially and politically somewhat a tad to the right of Louis XIV, couple this with an aggressive state judicial system in a state where possession of a half smoked joint or even a seed is a felony and you have a recipe for OJ's demise. My folks lived there in their "golden years" and would LOVE to be called for jury duty. It gave them something different to do and becoming empanelled on a long case was cause for celebration. For my late dad, it was suit and tie time, fresh notebooks for copious entries, and he always carried a couple of back up pens. He was no different to the rest of the old folks who'd received a jury summons. OJ is toast and would be well advized to a plea deal.

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Posted By: Ken McMillan

O.J. picks only the best people to hang out with.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

The case was supposed to have been heard in Santa Monica based on the Brentwood location of the crime. A Santa Monica jury pool is going to be predominantly white/hispanic/asian with virtually no blacks. It was a Santa Monica jury that smacked down on Simpson in the civil wrongful death case. Downtown the jury pool is predominantly black and hispanic. The moment the case was transferred every lawyer I knew around here called it either a hung jury or an acquittal; that's how raw the racial tensions were in LA after the King thing. Southern California is so racially and economically segregated that where you file a case has big consequences for how it turns out. If I can file a case against a big company in downtown LA or an outlying area, I will usually choose downtown because the juries there are so notorious for punishing the Man. Take that same case to West LA and you can chop the value in half.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Adam- it makes me sick to think that's how our justice system works, and I am sure you are right.

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Posted By: peter chao

Barry,

I'll warn you in advance, I'm being sarcastic. What I love about the law is the way it deals with important standards. For car accident cases, you have the reasonable man standard.

Would a reasonable man stopped at a stop sign. The problem is there is no such thing as a reasonable man...where are you going to find 12 reasonable people. Let alone put 12 reasonable people on a jury.

Peter C.