Today OJ Simpson was sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping. SOHH caught up with Konvict Muzik star, Akon, prior to the sentencing to get his take on the football stars fall from grace.

Back in September of 2007, Simpson and five associates raided a room at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas, held two two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint and stole thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia.

Though his defense attorneys argued that OJ was only there to retrieve items that were previously stolen from him and that he was not aware of the guns in the room, a Las Vegas jusry convicted the former NFLer on 12 criminal charges. Today OJ and his co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart were sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.

“I think it’s sad. It’s very, very sad and unfortunately OJ had to get caught up in the middle of all that,” Akon told SOHH. “I think it could’ve been handled a lot more maturely. You gotta stop and ask yourself what’s more important [than] the articles or your freedom. I think that thought should’ve came in his head before that incident in Vegas happened.”

Akon also believes that OJ faced a harsher penalty since he was aquitted in the highly publicized murder trial of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman 13 years ago.

“Ever since the last trial they’ve always been waiting for a reason to get him,” he said. “It’s very, very obvious that he’s being tried for the first trial. It’s obvious but when you’re under those kinda circumstances and you’re actually against those type of odds you almost gotta just sit back and understand that every small little mistake can affect you hugely. You got away the first time. The second time its not likely that you’re gonna get away.”

Simpson won’t be eligible for parole after serving six years of his sentence. Lawyers for Simpson and Stewart have said that they will appeal the convictions.

Source: SOHH