LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Las Vegas prosecutors added a charge of coercion with a deadly weapon against O.J. Simpson and three other co-defendants on Wednesday in addition to 11 other crimes the four are accused of in a robbery of sports memorabilia collectors.


The new charge follows a Tuesday hearing in which two previous co-defendants pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for their testimony against Simpson and the others.

Michael Sommermeier, a spokesman for the Clark County District Attorney in Las Vegas, said the new charge was added and the remaining charges were consolidated so that all the remaining defendants would be tried for the same crimes.

Simpson, 60, and his three co-defendants are accused of breaking into a Las Vegas hotel room in September and robbing two sports memorabilia collectors of items related to Simpson, a former football star turned TV pitchman.

Officials charge Simpson and his accomplices brandished weapons and held the collectors against their will. Simpson has told reporters he was simply getting personal photos, a Hall of Fame certificate and other items that previously were stolen from him by a former sports agent.

The defendants were arrested in mid-September and charged with various crimes involving kidnapping, conspiracy, robbery and use of a deadly weapon.

Simpson, who is free on bail after spending several days in jail in September, is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing scheduled for November 8.

If convicted of the charges, he could spend life in prison.

He was acquitted in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was later found liable for their deaths in a separate, civil case.

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