Testimony backs up Simpson

O.J. Simpson might have been unaware that guns were used during an alleged robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers, according to testimony Friday by those who took part in the incident at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino.

The former NFL star has said repeatedly that no one involved in the attempt to recover property he said was stolen from him pulled out a weapon. Since the preliminary hearing got underway Thursday, however, witnesses have testified that two Simpson associates were armed -- and that one drew his gun.

But Thomas Riccio, an auctioneer who helped set up the Sept. 13 meeting, said Simpson was standing in front of the man who waved the gun and might not have seen him.

“O.J. made it clear to me he didn’t see a gun,” Riccio testified Friday. “I made it clear to him I did.”

Whether Simpson knew his companions were armed could affect Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure’s decision about whether there is enough evidence for Simpson, 60, to stand trial on charges that could send him to prison for life. The hearing is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

Simpson and two codefendants -- Clarence J. Stewart Jr. and Charles B. Ehrlich, both 53 -- are charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping and armed robbery. Three other men have agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and testify against Simpson.

One of them, Charles H. Cashmore, was asked Friday if Simpson had ever acknowledged that guns were involved. Cashmore said that after the alleged robbery, he heard Simpson say at least three times on the phone, “There were no guns.”

No one corrected him, Cashmore testified.

Ehrlich’s attorneys asked the judge to toss out Cashmore’s testimony because he had appeared Thursday on the Fox News show “On The Record With Greta Van Susteren.” Bonaventure said the appearance did not violate his order that witnesses not watch the testimony of others.

The alleged robbery began as a business deal between Simpson and Riccio, who had been contacted by memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley. Beardsley wanted to sell collectibles that had purportedly been taken from Simpson’s trophy room and from his mother’s storage locker.

Simpson -- who was acquitted in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman -- wanted the signed footballs and awards back to keep them in his family, not because he wanted to sell them himself, Riccio said.

In return for helping Simpson, Riccio asked the Hall of Fame player and onetime USC star to sign 500 copies of “If I Did It,” a book about the murders. Simpson agreed to sign 200.

For more than a month, they hashed out a plan to meet memorabilia dealer and “O.J. disciple” Beardsley, Riccio said. Simpson never mentioned a gun.

On the day of the incident, Stewart asked Cashmore, a friend from their days in the mortgage industry, whether he wanted to have a drink with Simpson. Cashmore, who until then had never met the former running back, accepted and later followed Simpson and Ehrlich from a bar at the Palms Hotel to Stewart’s sport utility vehicle.

The men asked Cashmore if he would help them pick up some of Simpson’s things at the Palace Station, and they ended up in Riccio’s room, 1203, where Riccio had hidden a tape recorder in the armoire.

“It was very heated and very quick,” Cashmore testified, his lips pursed and face red.

Stewart frisked memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong, who had accompanied Beardsley, Cashmore said. Another Simpson associate waved a gun and threatened, “If we were in Los Angeles, you’d be lying where you stand.”

Cashmore and others carted out hundreds of items in boxes and pillowcases. Back in the SUV, Simpson told his companions, “I don’t want anything that’s not mine.”

The next day, Cashmore told investigators, Stewart said Simpson “ain’t getting his stuff back.” Stewart -- who was keeping items at his Las Vegas home -- suggested they sell the Simpson collectibles and divvy up the money, Cashmore testified.

ashley.powers@latimes.com