O.J. Simpson has been of the most controversial and scrutinized figures of the last 20 years, and that reputation is doing little to help him now. Simpson is up for parole in his 2008 kidnapping and armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers, and he'll need all of the help he can get.

Simpson was indicted in 2008 after he allegedly burst into the hotel room of two sports memorabilia dealers in 2007 and held them up at gun point. For those actions he received 12 criminal charges that amounted to between 9 and 33 years behind bars.

The former NFL running back, who is now 66-years-old, will also have to serve some of those sentences consecutively. That would require that he cannot begin serving one sentence until he finishes another. He has been kept at Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada since he was found guilty five years ago.

"Once they get through the hearing, the panel will deliberate and make a recommendation to the full board," said Parole Board spokesman David Smith. "He [Simpson] is going to get to know first."

Lawyers for Simpson claim that his previous defense was inadequate and personally invested in the outcome of the trial. For that reason, they say that Simpson should get charges reduced on at least some of his charges. If he is successful in his parole hearing, Simpson could get several years knocked off of his sentencing, but would still have to start serving other sentences and would not actually receive parole.

"They argued previous defense lawyer Yale Galanter shared responsibility for the ill-conceived plot in September 2007, when he stormed a Las Vegas hotel room to confront the memorabilia dealers. They also argued Galanter deliberately sabotaged Simpson's chances for acquittal and success on appeal to protect himself and his own self-interests," reports Fox Sports.

Simpson has had a tumultuous history with the court system. Before the 2008 charges, he made national headlines when he was implicated in the double murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Though he was acquitted of criminal charges in the case, in 1997 a civil court rendered a decision against him in their wrongful deaths, ordering him top pay over $33 million. So far he has paid little of that sum and has filed for bankruptcy.