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O.J. Simpson was a free man again Thursday as he awaited trial in his armed robbery case after a judge doubled his bail and blistered his "arrogance or ignorance" for violating the terms of his previous release.
"There's no 'get-out-of-jail-free card' today," Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass told Simpson on Wednesday as the former football star sat shackled at the wrists and waist.
Simpson posted bond and was released from jail just after 11 p.m. He walked out by himself, got into a white Mercedes, and was driven away without speaking to the media.
Simpson was expected to fly back to Miami sometime Thursday morning.
Glass set Simpson's bond at $250,000, and required him to post a 15 percent premium, or $37,500, in cash before he could be released. Tom Scotto, owner of a North Miami Beach auto repair shop, and four other Simpson friends in Florida raised the bail money.
Defense attorney Yale Galanter had promised that his client would post the deed to his home after the judge learned that Simpson paid nothing toward his earlier bail.
Simpson, 60, was picked up Friday in Florida by a bail bondsman and taken back to Nevada for violating terms of his release.
He had been ordered to have no contact with co-defendants or witnesses after he was freed on bail in September on charges of orchestrating the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a hotel room.
Wednesday's hearing was called because Simpson mentioned co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart while leaving a sputtering, foul-mouthed phone message two months ago for his bail bondsman, Miguel Pereira of You Ring We Spring.
"I don't know Mr. Simpson what the heck you were thinking - or maybe that's the problem - you weren't," Glass said.
In the message, Simpson asked Pereira to tell Stewart how frustrated Simpson was about testimony during a preliminary hearing several days earlier.
"I just want, want C.J. to know that ... I'm tired of this (expletive)," Simpson said, according to a transcript. "Fed up with (expletives) changing what they told me. All right?"
Though there was no indication Stewart received the message, prosecutor Chris Owens suggested it was threatening. The judge merely said she didn't like the tone.
"I don't know if it's just arrogance. I don't know if it's ignorance," she said. "But you've been locked up at the Clark County Detention Center since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance - or both."
Galanter denied the call was an effort by Simpson to contact Stewart.
Pereria said he gave prosecutors audio recordings of conversations he had with Simpson while escorting him to jail.
The recordings contain "self admissions to things that were committed," Pereira told The Associated Press late Wednesday. He said he could not provide details because of a pending investigation.
A spokesman for Clark County District Attorney David Roger declined comment.
Galanter denied that Simpson made self-incriminating statements, and said defense lawyers knew Pereira was recording Simpson.
"I think the tapes will speak for themselves," Galanter said.
