Prosecution rests in O.J. robbery case

LAS VEGAS — 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's lawyers brought Alfred Beardsley back to the witness stand, wearing blue jail scrubs with his wrists shackled to a chain belt around his waist.

"I'd like to be better dressed," said Beardsley, one of the two memorabilia dealers allegedly robbed at gunpoint. He is a convicted felon being held on a California parole violation. He wore a shirt, tie and jacket when he testified for the prosecution last week.

Under questioning by Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter, Beardsley repeated that he thought charges against Simpson should be dropped, and that he and Simpson had been "set up" by Thomas Riccio, the collectibles broker who arranged their casino hotel room meeting.

"Everything just smelled of a setup," Beardsley said.

"Did Mr. Simpson ever try to manipulate your testimony or tell you how to testify in this trial?" Galanter asked.

"Absolutely not," Beardsley said.

Galanter also brought 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.