O.J. Simpson's Las Vegas trial: Prosecution rests robbery case

6:27 p.m.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The man who told a jury that O.J. Simpson asked him to bring guns and "look menacing" during a hotel room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers acknowledged Monday he didn't tell police that last October.
"You have a whole conversation with police and you never say 'O.J. said to bring guns?"' Simpson defense lawyer Gabriel Grasso asked the witness, Michael McClinton, during a lengthy cross-examination.
"It may have slipped my mind," McClinton responded. "But Mr. Simpson knew I had a gun. He read my concealed weapons permit."
McClinton, 50, a Las Vegas resident who worked as a security guard, was the last of four former co-defendants to testify against Simpson in the trial. After he finished two days of testimony, prosecutors rested their case against the former football star and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart.
Simpson and Stewart have pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and could face five years to life in prison in the Sept. 13. 2007, confrontation in a Las Vegas casino hotel room. Simpson has said he only wanted to retrieve mementos of his storied career from the memorabilia dealers.
As the defense started its case, Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter called police Sgt. Rod Hunt back to the stand to describe how Simpson offered his immediate cooperation to police, including providing his personal cell phone number to a patrol officer. Hunt supervised the robbery detectives who investigated the case.
Earlier, McClinton told the jury he brought and displayed a .45-caliber handgun during the six-minute confrontation with memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley and gave another gun to his friend and former co-defendant, Walter Alexander.
Simpson has claimed he saw no guns in the room. But McClinton said he had his gun drawn when he entered the room and that Simpson was close enough that their shoulders could have touched.
Grasso returned repeatedly to McClinton's failure to tell police on Oct. 15, 2007, that Simpson told him to bring weapons.
"You must've forgotten, right?" Grasso asked.
"Sometimes that happens," McClinton said.
Grasso noted that McClinton pleaded guilty to robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in an agreement that called for him to testify against Simpson. He could get probation or up to 11 years in prison when he is sentenced after the trial. He also has surrendered his concealed weapons permit.
McClinton spent the entire morning on the witness stand while Grasso offered a defense transcript of an audio tape McClinton secretly recorded at a restaurant where he went with Simpson and others after the confrontation.
Grasso led McClinton, line-by-line, through a comparison of the defense transcript of the recording with a prosecution transcript used when McClinton was questioned by District Attorney David Roger.
McClinton acknowledged differences in the two transcripts and at one point said laughter that had been attributed to him was someone else's.
"There are numerous deletions and additions that you agreed that are not on the transcript," Grasso said after hours of replaying audio clips.
"Yes," McClinton responded.
Prosecutors had used the tape to bolster McClinton's testimony.
"This ain't no major crime," Simpson is heard saying on the tape.
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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

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6:02 p.m.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Prosecutors have rested their case against O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant after the last witness admitted his testimony in court differed from what he told police about the hotel room confrontation last year.
Michael McClinton earlier told the jury Simpson asked him to bring guns and "look menacing" when they met with two sports memorabilia dealers last October. He acknowledged under cross-examination Monday that he didn't tell police that.
Simpson defense lawyer Gabriel Grasso asked McClinton: "You have a whole conversation with police and you never say 'O.J. said to bring guns?"'
The witness responded: "It may have slipped my mind."
After McClinton finished two days of testimony, prosecutors rested their case.

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4:16 p.m.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - O.J. Simpson's armed robbery-kidnapping trial resumed Monday with defense attorneys trying to cast doubt on the testimony of a man who said he brandished a gun during a hotel room confrontation after being told by Simpson to "look menacing."

Michael McClinton underwent lengthy cross-examination by Simpson attorney Gabriel Grasso, who offered a defense transcript of an audio tape McClinton secretly recorded at a restaurant where he went with Simpson and other men after they allegedly robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint last year.

Grasso began the day having McClinton do a line-by-line comparison of the defense transcript with a prosecution transcript used when McClinton was questioned Friday by District Attorney David Roger.

"See if it's correct who's saying what," Grasso told McClinton.

McClinton acknowledged differences in the two transcripts and at one point said laughter that had been attributed to him was someone else's.

"There are numerous deletions and additions that you agreed that are not on the transcript," Grasso said after hours of replaying audio clips.

"Yes," McClinton responded.

McClinton, testifying under a plea bargain which could save him from prison, testified earlier that Simpson asked him to bring a gun to the hotel-casino where the former football star planned to reclaim mementos of his storied career from memorabilia dealers who were offering them for sale.

He was scheduled to be the prosecution's last witness but intense cross-examination could extend his stay on the witness stand. The defense planned to begin calling its own witnesses after McClinton.

Simpson claims he saw no guns the night of Sept 13, 2007, but McClinton said that he had his gun drawn when he crossed into the hotel room and that Simpson was close enough that their shoulders could have touched.

Prosecutors bolstered McClinton's testimony with an audio tape recorded by McClinton during a party attended by Simpson only hours after the hotel room incident.

"This ain't no major crime," Simpson is heard saying on the tape.

On Friday, Roger highlighted this exchange between Simpson and McClinton:

Simpson: "You didn't pull the piece out in the hall."

McClinton: "No, no, no, no, no, no, hell no."

Simpson added in the recording, "There ain't nothin' on that video and look, they gonna look at the video. ... Ain't nothin' they can see, they gonna see us goin' in the place. Then they gonna see us leaving with just the boxes."

McClinton testified that Simpson seemed concerned about security video cameras at the hotel. None of the surveillance videos shown at the three-week-old trial have included any image of a gun, and witnesses have been conflicted about whether Simpson could have been in a position to see a gun in the cramped hotel room.

In one taped segment, Simpson mentioned co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart who, along with Simpson, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges including kidnapping, armed robbery, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon. A kidnapping conviction could result in a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery conviction could mean mandatory prison time.

"I told C.J., do me a favor get me some boys. I just want them to look menacing," he is heard saying on the tape.

When it was over, McClinton testified, "He was telling me there was no guns. I knew differently because I had a gun."

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Associated Press Writer Ken Ritter contributed to this report.