OBITUARIES / PASSINGS / Carmelita Durio

Carmelita Durio, O.J. Simpson’s sister, who collapsed in a Las Vegas courtroom when he was convicted of robbery and kidnapping last October, died Monday in a Sacramento hospital. She was believed to be in her early 60s.

Tom Scotto, a family friend, told the Associated Press that he did not know the exact cause of death but said her kidneys had failed in recent days.

“I think it was the stress. She just couldn’t take it,” Scotto said, noting that her health had declined since she saw her brother led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. She collapsed that day and paramedics were called to revive her.

Scotto said Durio had been taken to the hospital three weeks ago and was released to a rehabilitation facility, but later returned to the hospital and fell into a coma.

Prison officials in Nevada informed the former football star of his sister’s death. Suzanne Pardee, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, told The Times there were no plans to allow Simpson to attend the funeral. He is serving a sentence of nine to 33 years in a medium-security facility in Lovelock, Nev.