A woman once billed as a key defense witness in the O.J. Simpson murder trial has pleaded guilty to three felony theft counts.
Mary Anne Gerchas, 40, entered her plea Wednesday to charges stemming from failure to pay a hotel bill of more than $23,000, stealing jewelry and writing a bad check to an attorney who helped her fight an eviction case.Since Gerchas was on bail when she wrote the bad check, that adds an additional two years to the possible sentence.
She faces a maximum of six years and four months in prison when she is sentenced July 8.
Gerchas, a one-time jewelry store owner, was billed as a key Simpson witness in defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr.'s opening statement. Gerchas claimed she saw four men near Nicole Brown Simpson's condominium the night Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman were killed.