Auctioneer says Simpson helped plan hotel sting

An auctioneer at the heart of the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case told a jury this afternoon that Simpson helped concoct the plan to retrieve what he believed were personal photos taken from him by his former agent.

"He was really excited about getting a lot of his stuff back," Thomas Riccio said. "It was personal stuff that he wanted."

Riccio said he and Simpson planned a sting at Palace Station to confront the people who were selling the items and have them return the property.

Riccio also testified that he had tried to get the FBI and Los Angeles police involved, but they both declined because it was a civil matter.

Earlier today, O.J. Simpson's lawyer said that Las Vegas police were "prejudging" Simpson when they investigated him in connection with the alleged armed robbery at Palace Station in September 2007.

Yale Galanter said this morning that police who were investigating the incident on Sept. 13 were recorded saying that they could get Simpson when California authorities couldn’t — a reference to Simpson being acquitted in the 1990s of killing his wife and her friend.

Reading a transcript of a secret recording made of police employees, Galanter said a police employee identified only as Perkins said, “California can’t get him. Now we’ll be able to — blank — got him.”

The lead detective in Simpson’s case, Andy Caldwell, testified that Perkins is a civilian employee. He also said Perkins was quoting someone else when he made that statement. That person was not identified.

But Galanter said this was evidence that the police already had their minds made up about Simpson.

During testimony, Caldwell also said police treated the case differently because it involved Simpson, a well-known celebrity.

He said police normally would have taken the suspect into custody after the incident at Palace Station, but “because of the nature of the case,” police chose to conduct surveillance on Simpson while they were investigating the alleged armed robbery.

Simpson was taken into custody two days after the Palace Station incident.

Simpson and co-defendant Clarence Stewart are facing kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. They are accused of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers of collectibles.

Simpson and Stewart have pleaded not guilty.