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O.J. Simpson Is Free: ‘Social Media Is Everywhere’ So The Juice Isn’t As Loose As People Think

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 01:21 PST, Oct 1, 2017

After nine years behind bars, the nation’s headlines deem O.J. Simpson a free man today, spawning a new chapter in one of the most high-profile cases in the nation’s history. Mark Fuhrman, a former detective with the Los Angeles Police Department who played a major part in the investigation of murder charges in OJ’s prior acquitted case, offered his thoughts on Simpson’s parole release on Fox & Friends Weekend Sunday morning.

O.J. was released a little after 12 a.m. on Sunday, and the first picture of Simpson as a free man is going for $20,000, according to a reporter from Fox News who was covering O.J.’s release from outside the prison. With “The Juice Is Loose” becoming a popular play on words today in the news, Fuhrman reminds the Fox audience he is not as loose as one might think. O.J. has some very strict parole guidelines to follow, from the amount of alcohol he is allowed to drink to possible random searches of his home.

The asking price for the first picture of Simpson as a free man is an indication of the public’s ongoing interest in Simpson, and for sure cameras will be following him just about everywhere, speculates the Fox anchors and Fuhrman, which will more than likely add some stress to O.J.’s new found freedom, or the level of freedom that comes along with parole. To make matters even worse for O.J.’s plight, the access to social media is in the hands of just about everyone today, so if he slips up in even the slightest of way, chances are it will be documented and tossed online for the world to see.

O.J. has to be on his best behavior and with a number of reporters expected to follow him around, the question pondered today is — will he be able to hold it together and not get too rambunctious about his lack of privacy? While it’s Simpson’s murder trial that comes to mind for many people when they think of the legendary football player behind bars, that is not what he went to jail for. After being acquitted of the charges of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman, O.J. got in trouble with the law once again. That case ended in a prison sentence where he has spent the last nine years.

The Nevada Department of Corrections released a short clip of O.J.’s release, which is seen below in the tweet from Scripps National.

As ESPN reports today, Simpson was doing time for “a botched hotel room robbery” in Las Vegas when his release came via parole by the parole board within the prison system. While Simpson was granted parole this summer, his release from prison wasn’t possible until October 1. It was just a few minutes into the first day of October that Simpson left the prison. When his parole was granted earlier this summer, the strict restrictions that came along with his parole were revealed.

According to Fox News from an article back in July, if Simpson does “screw up” his parole, he may be looking at completing a 33-year sentence. He cannot associate with any known felons or gang members. Simpson cannot have an alcohol level over 0.08 under Nevada law. Simpson has expressed he wants to live in Florida, but there are roadblocks already in the way for that move, such as the state’s attorney general who requests he not be allowed in the state. But if by chance he did get parole in Florida, he couldn’t drink at all. He couldn’t even walk into a business that sells alcohol as their primary product.

While O.J. is physically out of prison today, this doesn’t make him free by any stretch of the imagination, which is what Mark Fuhrman conveyed to the Fox & Friend Weekend audience this morning. For now, Simpson was released from his jail cell in Nevada, so he needs to stay in that state until he is granted a move to somewhere else if he does decide to do so.

He has made it known that his plans are to move to Florida. While those may be his plans, Florida’s attorney general has made it clear that O.J. is not welcome in their neck of the woods. According to TMZ, Florida’s Attorney General Pam Bondi has sent a letter to the Florida Dept. of Corrections, stating her objection to any intentions that Simpson may have to relocate to Florida.

Pam Bondi appeared on Fox & Friends Weekend to discuss why she doesn’t want Simpson in the Sunshine State. She had stated earlier in her letter to the parole board that one of the reasons that she finds the former football star an unwanted citizen of her state is his lack of contrition for his crimes, according to TMZ. He has a civil judgment in the wrongful death case of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman and he’s avoided paying this massive judgment. Bondi said on Fox & Friends, “he wants to come to Florida and golf all over our state and I don’t want that.”

Simpson has been convicted of spousal battery against his late wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Bondi stresses that his reputation alone makes him a concern, as his destructive behavior is well documented, such as road rage, breaking into his girlfriend’s home, which she included in the parole board letter. O.J. also has some offenses that are minor, but still indicate that he doesn’t follow the rules.

These minor offenses include civil theft of television signals and speeding with his boat through an area deemed a manatee zone, which she conveyed to the folks in charge of his parole. Not to mention the burden that the local law enforcement agency will have thrust upon them in the town that Simpson should pick as home. The notoriety of Simpson and this case is expected to cause a commotion when it comes to reporters and photographers. If the parole board does by chance grant him a move to Florida, Bondi is asking for O.J. to be fitted with a bracelet monitoring system.

If he is allowed to come to Florida, which is a possibility, states Bondi, Florida will put some tough restrictions on him, many already in place for all parolees. She also said that “social media is everywhere” so if he has so much as a sip of alcohol while out in public, someone will catch him. The best case scenario for Bondi is that he doesn’t come to Florida at all.

[Featured Image by Brooke Keast/AP Images]

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