O.J. Simpson may see the outside of the slammer sooner than expected.
The 70-year-old former NFL star is up for parole in July, which if granted, would have him out by October.
Simpson is serving a nine to 33-year sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada for first degree kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit a violent crime after authorities say he robbed several men at a Las Vegas casino hotel room in 2007. Simpson has said he was attempting to retrieve his own memorabilia and personal items.
Ahead of the hearing, authorities are preparing for possible protests from supporters or dissenters.
“We will definitely have more staff working, and we’ll have help from local law enforcement,” Nevada Department Of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast told the Reno Gazette Journal.
“For his safety, we can’t open the doors to the public, so we’re doing a live streaming. Whatever the decision the board makes, there’s going to be somebody who isn’t going to like it.”
Simpson’s name has found itself in pop culture over the last year thanks to a number of TV series and documentaries pegged to his life and 1995 trial of his slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown. FX’s The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story won four Emmys alone last year.
“There’s no threat and there was nothing happening that indicates there will be issues,” Keast said. “But we have to be careful because he’s a higher profile inmate.”