OJ Simpson heads for prison gates

OJ Simpson will be living in Florida after being released from prison.

OJ Simpson will live in Florida after he is released on parole from a Nevada prison where he has been held for the past nine years for a robbery conviction, said his lawyer.

Attorney Malcolm LaVergne didn't specify where the former American football and film star would live, although close friend Tom Scotto has offered his Naples, Florida, home.

"He's going to Florida," LaVergne said. "There's no doubt he's going to Florida."

However, Florida's attorney general Pam Bondi doesn't want 70-year-old Simpson to come back. Bondi sent a letter to the Florida Department of Corrections, urging it to tell Nevada officials that Florida objects to Simpson serving his parole there.

"Floridians are well aware of Mr Simpson's background, his wanton disregard for the lives of others, and of his scofflaw attitude with respect to the heinous acts for which he has been found civilly liable," Bondi wrote."Our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal."

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. But he was found liable for their deaths in a civil case in 1997 and ordered to pay the victims' families US$33.5 million ($46.47m) in compensatory and punitive damages - therefore finding Simpson responsible for the murders.

David Cook, attorney for the Goldman family, said on Wednesday the judgment amount has nearly doubled with interest over the years to more than US$65m and the family will continue to seek payment.

The jury also awarded Brown and Simpson's two children US$12.6m from their father as recipients of their mother's estate.

Throughout the "trial of the century" Simpson was supported by his friend and lawyer Robert Kardashian, the father of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian.

In post-trial interviews a few jurors said they believed he did commit the murders but the prosecution had failed to prove its case.

A Florida corrections spokeswoman, Ashley Cook, said her agency has not received a transfer request or documents about Simpson. Officials have said previously that they must accept the transfer if Nevada's request meets the criteria.

He becomes eligible for release today. Release plans need to be finalised for Simpson to be freed, perhaps as early as tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada prisons official Brooke Keast said.

Simpson won parole in July after serving nine years of a possible 33-year sentence for his 2008 conviction on armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges.