O.J. Simpson’s attorney Malcolm LaVergne appeared on the LawNewz Network on Friday to discuss what he claims is a bogus report that his client was drunk and belligerent at a Las Vegas hotel bar earlier this week. LaVergne told host Caroline Polisi that while Simpson was indeed at the Cosmopolitan hotel that night, and was asked not to come back, he had not done anything wrong and was not intoxicated.
A TMZ report said that Simpson had been intoxicated and was hostile toward hotel staff, leading to him being escorted out of the building by security. LaVergne says that’s just not true. According to him, Simpson had been at the hotel for about two and a half hours visiting with friends, first having dinner, then going to the bar.
LaVergne said that Simpson had been hanging out at Cosmopolitan quite a bit lately, and has been drawing a lot of attention while going to different spots in Las Vegas. LaVergne speculated that when Simpson first showed up that night, the Cosmopolitan decided they didn’t want him back. Still, they let him have dinner and enjoy his stay for the evening, and then when he was leaving, they told him he couldn’t return.
LaVergne said that while Simpson may have had a “de minimis” amount of alcohol in his first drink, the rest of the time he just drank cranberry juice. “Mr. Simpson is allowed to drink, but not drink to excess,” he said. LaVergne pointed to testing Simpson had that did not show alcohol in his system, but admitted that the test took place “between 12 and 16 hours” after the alleged incident.
LawNewz.com reached out to the Nevada Parole Board for more information, and will update should they respond.
Despite claiming that he didn’t do anything wrong, LaVergne said that he is aware that someone in Simpson’s position with such a high profile can draw attention to himself when hanging out at Las Vegas hotels.
“I’ve counseled him and the advice here with his fame and notoriety is pretty clear. He needs to have good judgment in these situations,” he said, saying he’s spoken to Simpson about this in the past. “It’s an incident I anticipated.”
LaVergne emphasized that “Mr. Simpson did nothing wrong, but his judgment needs to be highly tuned so he doesn’t put himself in these situations.”
As far as the future, LaVergne said that Simpson will remain in Nevada, despite reports that he was planning on moving to Florida upon his release from prison.
“Mr. Simpson has no immediate plans to move to Florida right now,” LaVergne said, while acknowledging that the ultimate plan is for him to move there. Before that happens, though, “he needs to be concerned about Nevada approving him for transfer.”
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