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() The article doesn't say he'll go free - it says very few defendants charged with kidnapping are actually convicted of the offense.
1. The article mentions second-degree kidnapping. First degree may have been brought because it is the highest charge the evidence will support. At trial, though, the jury may be instructed about lesser included offenses, just as first-degree murder trials usually result in second-degree instructions.
2. The prosecutor, by bringing the highest charge, leaves some room for plea negotiations.
3. The article does not state whether, in other cases, the defendant was caught on audio tape uttering the precise words that make the case a kidnapping case. Most people think of kidnapping as the standard "take a hostage, demand a ransom" situation. Those are actually the least common kidnapping cases. The most common is parental kidnapping, where a non-custodial parent takes or keeps (for too long) a child and the custodial parent files a police report. The next most common kidnapping case - and the type involved here - occurs when a criminal restrains the movement of a victim as part of a larger offense, such as robbery, carjacking, or sexual assault. The jury instructions accomodate all these different situations. It appears that Nevada follows the more enlightened view that the kidnapping must entail something more than the level of detention necessary to commit the robbery. However, here OJ said that the victims shouldn't be allowed to leave the room. This was a level of detention beyond that necessary to commit the "robbery" because the memorabilia was not in the victim's hands - it was in the room, so OJ could have recovered the items without requiring the victims to stay in the room.
4. Even if kidnapping is rejected by a judge or jury, recent revelations that OJ wanted his buddies to bring guns - if accepted by the jury - makes OJ guilty of armed robbery and subjects him to any enhancement in sentencing that comes from being armed. In addition, it makes him out to be the leader of the offense, which under most sentencing guidelines also permits an enhancement of the sentence. No matter what happens with the kidnapping charge, there are plenty of other charges, including lesser offenses, leveled against Simpson. Some of these are just as serious as kidnapping.
Thus, it is highly unlikely that OJ will escape punishment - as long as the jury selects one of the many felonies from the menu of charges the prosecutor will be presenting them. Of course, as Norm Crosby said, when you rely on the jury system, you are relying on 12 people who weren't smart enough to get off jury duty.
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