9 To 33 Year Sentence No Bar To O.J.'s Florida Homestead Exemption; Ex-Football Star To Keep Benefit Despite 'Scoring' Extended Stay In Nevada Prison

In Miami, Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• O.J. Simpson may not be coming back to South Florida for a good long while, but he's still entitled to a homestead exemption on his Kendall home. So ruled the Miami-Dade County property appraiser's office after a neighbor complained that the convicted armed robber and long-ago football and TV star's current extended residency at a Nevada prison should preclude him from receiving the property-tax break usually afforded to Florida homeowners.

• Now the miffed neighbor, David Weston, thinks someone in Tallahassee should take another look. What bothers Weston, he says, is not so much the fact that it's Simpson getting the tax break, but more generally that state rules allow felons serving prison sentences -- even those doing so out of state -- to keep their exemptions.

***

• Florida Department of Revenue rules, which govern the homestead exemption, require that the property be the homeowner's primary residence. But the rules also clearly state that a felony conviction by itself doesn't disqualify anyone. Nor does a temporary absence -- "regardless of the reason for such,'' the rule book says, "providing an abiding intention to return is always present.''

• So there is no legal basis to rescind Simpson's exemption, said Lazaro Solis, deputy property appraiser. In fact, the only way Simpson could lose the exemption is if he rents out the home, Solis said.

• A county inspector paid a visit and found Simpson's son, Justin, living there. Justin Simpson, 22, told the inspector he's going back and forth to an out-of-town school, Solis said.

***

• O.J. Simpson, now 63, moved to Miami with Justin and his older sister, Sydney, who is now 25, in 2000, five years after he was acquitted of murdering their mother, Nicole Brown, in Los Angeles. Simpson's Miami sojourn was cut short when he and a co-defendant were convicted in October 2008 of leading a bungled heist at a Las Vegas hotel to retrieve memorabilia the disgraced star claimed was stolen by dealers. Simpson, who has appealed, was sentenced to serve nine to 33 years at a Nevada state prison on charges of armed robbery, kidnapping and conspiracy.(1)

For the story, see O.J. Simpson in jail, but still gets tax break.

(1) The right of convicted felons to retain their homestead rights, despite being shipped off to prison for a long time, is not unique to Florida. See Sexual Assault Victim's Attempt To Satisfy Money Judgment By Snatching Now-Vacated, Jailed Perpetrator's Texas House Squelched By Homestead Claim, involving a recent Texas Court of Appeals ruling holding that the home of a convicted felon retained its homestead character, and thereby exempted it from forced sale by judgment creditors - including the victim of his crime, despite his having to spend the next 35 years away from it in a state prison.