LAS VEGAS—O.J. Simpson's lawyer declared the former football star was ready for jury selection to begin next Monday in his trial stemming from allegations he robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint almost a year ago.
"Ready for trial, judge," Simpson lawyer Gabriel Grasso said Tuesday, during the last scheduled pretrial hearing.

But Robert Lucherini, lawyer for Simpson's only remaining co-defendant, Clarence "C.J." Stewart, made yet another pitch to sever or postpone the trial. He told Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass he'll ask the Nevada Supreme Court to reconsider its denial of his request for a separate or delayed trial.

"I am not granting your motion to continue," Glass told Lucherini. "I am not ... granting a stay. The jury selection process will begin next Monday."

Glass said a pool of 500 would-be jurors was reduced to about 250 after defense lawyers and prosecutors spent several hours behind closed doors Aug. 25 reviewing answers that prospective jurors provided on 26-page questionnaires.

"We did excuse most of the people, if not all of the people, who expressed extreme opinions about the parties," Glass said, "in an effort to have a very efficient jury selection process."

The judge said she expected to complete jury selection within a week. Trial is scheduled to take up to five weeks.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who earlier submitted a list of almost 80 witnesses, said Tuesday that he expects to call about 25 witnesses.
Grasso said he and Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter planned to call those witnesses plus perhaps three more.

Lucherini said he would likely call six or seven witnesses on Stewart's behalf.

Simpson and Stewart have pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including felony kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in a Sept. 13, 2007, confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel.

A kidnapping conviction could get them life in prison with the possibility of parole. A robbery conviction would mean mandatory prison time.

Four other men who accompanied Simpson and Stewart have accepted plea deals, pleaded guilty to felony charges and agreed to testify for the prosecution.

A state high court panel last week turned down Lucherini's appeal of Glass' earlier refusals to delay or sever Stewart's trial from Simpson's.

Lucherini argues it will be impossible for Stewart to get a fair trial sitting at the defendant's table with the former National Football League star, film actor and advertising pitchman who was acquitted in the 1995 slayings in Los Angeles of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.