dry day in seattle, near 70. midwest at 70s and 80s. and phoenix is the hot spot at 98 degrees. o.j. simpson has taken the stand to plead hids case for a brand new trial. simpson testified that he relied on the advice of his trusted attorney, and that turned out to be a mistake. abc s brandi hitt is in las vegas. reporter: with a shrug of the shoulders, o.j. simpson headed straight to the witness stand to give the performance of his life, testifying for his freedom. i wouldn t have thought in my wildest dreams that these guys would have guns. reporter: the former football great hopes the judge will decide he deserves a new trial for his 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction on the basis that his former lead attorney, yale gallanter mishands his case on many details. did you trust mr. gallanter? yes. reporter: simpson said gallanter advised him simpson had the legal right to confront two men who had sports memorabilia simpson maintains
was stolen from him. i didn t break into anybody s room. i didn t beat up anybody. the guys acknowledged it was my stuff. reporter: during the trial he also claims gallanter never told him about plea offers made from the prosecution. did you ever hear about a two to five? no. did you ever hear about a 30 month to five? no. reporter: simpson with one wrist handcuffed to the stand, the 65-year-old had difficulty pouring water. still he often smiled in court, showing off the charisma many remember. he insists gallanter discouraged him from testifying back in 2008, but now he s confident this moment on the stand could sway the judge. he s happy to get to tell his story. i think he did really, really well. reporter: after a handful of other witnesses, yale gallanter will take the stand on friday, where he s expected to tell his side of the story. brandi hitt, abc news, las vegas. jurors in the jodi arias case have decided that her crit.
ineffective counsel and now these two lawyers are fighting each other. it s all on it all depends on what yale says. shep: the circus used to follow o.j., but from what i m hearing, it s not as big a deal. i guess he s gotten fat and gray and old and nobody likes him. nobody much cares anymore. they re glad he went away. he s had both sides of the legal world, the dream team of johnny cochran and now he says the clowns of yale gallanter. shep: i care. he called me once. listen. i want to call for one reason, you are a liar. shep: would you take lie detector? not for you, i won t. shep: how about for the f.b.i.? if i can benefit from it, i will. if not going to benefit. shep: he would not have benefited. dance monkey, that s a good one. i m impressed by selubrius.
hearing, whether o.j. s former attorneys botched the 2008 case. those attorneys include the man simpson claims told him that he could get his stuff back, that s yale gallanter. he says his lawyer constantly asked for more money, which lawyers do. totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars. simpson says he thought the costs were a bit high, but that he trusted his attorneys. i thought it was kind of expensive, but i spent a lot of money on lawyers, you know. this was nothing, you know, compared to what i had to spend in the past on lawyers. it was more because it was coming out of my pension. yale makes no bones to let everybody that works with him know that he s the guy that s in charge and it goes through him. he would tell me often not to talk to them, just talk to him. shep: yale gallanter is set to testify later this week. let s bring in mercedes cohen to look through this thing.
cross-examination of o.j. simpson after he takes the stand. what about the attorney at the center of all of this, gabriel grasso. i knew him personally. will he take the stand as well in his own defense? well, it s interesting. first i think you meant so say i i beg your pardon. i apologize. it s yale gallanter. you need a score card for this. i ll use a simple analogy. like tag team wrestling. yale was o.j. s long time ally and lawyer and he hired gabe to be his man on the ground in las vegas and there was simpson. grasso testifying now. he is testifying for simpson. gallantra will come up later and be with a prosecution witness and at the heart of this these accusations that yale messed up