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Simpson returns to Florida as case unfolds

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 21, 2007

As O.J. Simpson returned to his home in Florida, the case in Las Vegas continued with initial proceedings against his co-defendants.

Bail was set at $32,000 for Michael McClinton, whose lawyer said his client won't be able to raise the money to get out of jail. Bill Terry also accused the prosecutors of overreaching in the case.

"The kidnapping allegation, particularly, is fairly thin," he told Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr.

Another defendant, Charles Cashmore, also made an initial appearance before Bonaventure, who ordered him held without bail pending arraignment and a bail hearing today. Formal charges will be filed against Cashmore by then, said Danielle Pieper, a Clark County prosecutor.

Alfred Beardsley, 46, an accuser along with Bruce Fromong, appeared in another courtroom and told a judge he would not contest his return to custody in California on a parole violation, a court spokesman said. A parole official declined to say when or where Beardsley would be moved.

Simpson flew home late Wednesday to the Miami area and refused to answer reporters' questions about the case. Simpson, who was famously acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife and her friend but found liable for the deaths in a civil trial, left the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport in an SUV to travel to his home in Kendall.

As Simpson flew home, US Airways emptied a plane so he could board first with his attorney, Yale Galanter, and girlfriend, Christine Prody.

Simpson sat in an aisle seat in economy class. Passengers who boarded behind him took pictures with cell phones and cameras. He nodded and smiled as they passed, then slept from Las Vegas to South Florida.

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 23:53:49]