OJ faces life in jail after casino theft guilty verdict - The Sydney Morning Herald - 5th October 2008

OJ Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping here late yesterday, 13 years to the day after the American football legend was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

After a three-week trial, a Las Vegas jury deliberated for more than 13 hours on 12 charges against Simpson and a friend arising from an incident at the Palace Station casino in September last year.

A glum-looking Simpson showed no emotion as he and co-defendant Clarence Stewart were found guilty on all counts, verdicts which could have both men jailed for life.

After the verdicts were read out, just before 11pm local time (1600 AEST), Judge Jackie Glass denied a request for Simpson to be released on bail and he was led away in handcuffs. He will sentenced on December 5.

Paramedics were called as Simpson's sister Carmelita fainted shortly after watching her brother led away to a cell.

Simpson's lawyer Yale Galanter suggested his client had paid the price for his notoriety, confirming an appeal against the verdict would be launched.

"Definitely someone like OJ Simpson, everyone has a fixed opinion of him and it's troubling,'' Galanter told reporters. ``I wasn't surprised.''

"He's extremely upset, extremely emotional but it was something that was expected.''

Simpson, 61, was accused of storming into a hotel room with a gang of gun-toting cohorts and seizing sports memorabilia worth thousands of dollars from two dealers.

Simpson, who did not testify during his trial, said in interviews after his arrest he had only been recovering personal items stolen from his trophy room, and said he was unaware that his cohorts were armed.

However, four of Simpson's accomplices on the heist struck plea deals and testified against the sports star during his trial, which played out in low-key contrast to his circus-like 1995 ``Trial of the Century''.

Defence lawyers argued detectives had rushed to judgment from the early stages of the case, and said prosecution witnesses, including the victims, could not be trusted because they had sold their stories to the media.

During the case, jurors heard a recording of detectives gleefully celebrating Simpson's imminent arrest in the hours after the robbery.

"You're just pickin' on him cause you're mad about the verdict (in the murder case),'' one detective was heard to say.

"Yep,'' replied another.

One of the most famous American football players of his generation during a glittering 1970s career, Simpson was the prime suspect in the brutal murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

Nicole, who had divorced Simpson in 1992 citing his ``abusive behaviour'', was attacked so savagely she was almost decapitated.

Simpson, who has always vehemently denied the killings, was acquitted of murder after a racially charged Los Angeles trial in 1995, a verdict that was greeted with widespread outrage across America.

Simpson was subsequently found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil suit and was ordered to pay damages to the victims' families totalling $US33.5 million ($A43.46 million). He has repeatedly said he will not pay the settlement.

Simpson now lives in Florida, where his home and NFL pension reported to be worth $US300,000 ($A389,230) a year are protected from damages claims.

The disgraced football legend triggered widespread revulsion in 2006 after plans to publish a book If I Did It, in which he presented a theory of how Brown and Goldman might have been slain by the murderer.

The book's publishers later cancelled the book following the outcry.

(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)

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