LAS VEGAS – A Nevada judge agreed Friday to reopen the armed robbery and kidnapping case against former football star O.J. Simpson to determine if the former football star was so badly represented by his lawyers that he should be freed from prison and get another trial.

Simpson wasn’t in a Las Vegas courtroom while Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell agreed to hear evidence and consider 18 of 22 questions cited in a May appeal by Simpson lawyer Patricia Palm.

The 65-year-old Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in state prison. He could be put on the witness stand for the first time.