Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- O.J. Simpson, the former Buffalo Bills football player acquitted 13 years ago of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, faces life in prison after he was convicted of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint.

A jury found Simpson guilty of armed robbery, kidnapping and 10 other counts after deliberating for almost 13 hours yesterday, following a three-week trial in Nevada state court in Las Vegas. Simpson and five others were accused of robbing Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley at the Palace Station hotel casino in Las Vegas in September last year.

Simpson, 61, took items including footballs with his autograph, prosecutors said. Simpson said he was trying to recover family heirlooms and personal photographs stolen from him. He denied there were guns in the hotel room during the robbery. His codefendant, Clarence Stewart, was also found guilty on all 12 counts.

The jury ``already had a fixed opinion'' about Simpson, the former football star's lawyer, Yale Galanter, said outside the courthouse following the verdict.

Simpson's close friend Thomas Scotto, who testified during the trial, and Simpson's sister, Carmelita, cried as the verdict was read. After Simpson and Stewart were handcuffed and taken into custody, Carmelita fainted in the courtroom and paramedics were called. Both defendants were denied bail. Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass set sentencing for Dec. 5 at 9 a.m.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger declined to comment until Simpson and Stewart are sentenced, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

`High' Sentence Expected

Simpson's sentence is ``probably going to be on the high- end,'' Galanter said.

The jury of nine women and three men did not put aside their own prejudices about the former football star, Galanter said. Simpson will appeal based on jury selection, the lawyer said, adding that the judge unfairly limited his questioning of the government's witnesses.

The juror questionnaires, where the individuals answered 50 pages of inquiries into their opinion of Simpson, were ``horrifying,'' Galanter said. ``There's a fairness issue involved in all this.''

Simpson's other codefendants, Charles Ehrlich, Michael McClinton, Charles Howard Cashmore and Walter Alexander, who were accused of storming into hotel room 1203 at the Palace Station with guns to take the memorabilia, pleaded guilty to robbery and testified against him during the trial.

Taped Conversations

Thomas Riccio, the man who set up the meeting between Simpson and the memorabilia dealers, tape-recorded the alleged robbery and previous conversations at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. Riccio sold the tape to celebrity-gossip Web site TMZ.com and other media outlets.

In the recordings of Simpson, played by prosecutors during the trial, the former football star said ``I gotta be at my intimidating best,'' and ``We gonna get it all back,'' prior to the alleged crime.

Surveillance videotapes from the hotel lobby showed Simpson and his codefendants arriving at the Palace Station and later carrying boxes as they left.

Simpson's lawyer Galanter argued throughout the trial that his client wasn't guilty because he had no intent to commit a crime and didn't know if anyone with him was carrying a gun. Stewart's lawyers depicted him as having limited knowledge and involvement with the scheme.

``Mr. Simpson has a history that followed him into the courtroom and unfortunately that engulfed Mr. Stewart,'' Stewart's lawyer, E. Brent Bryson, said after the verdict. ``We really didn't feel this is a just verdict.''

Wife's 1994 Murder

Simpson was the prime suspect in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. He was acquitted of murder after a Los Angeles state court trial in 1995. Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a 1997 lawsuit and ordered to pay damages to the victims' families totaling $33.5 million.

Simpson dispersed properties to friends in an effort to avoid their confiscation to satisfy the damages award, prosecutors told the jury at the start of the robbery trial. One of those friends was Mike Gilbert, who allegedly sold memorabilia given him by Simpson to Beardsley and Fromong. The two were hoping to make $50,000 to $100,000 by selling it, prosecutors said.

A Florida bankruptcy court awarded publishing rights of a book by Simpson to the Goldmans as part of the unpaid civil judgment. HarperCollins, the book's original publisher, canceled publication after the contents of the book drew harsh criticism.

The Goldman family, in an effort to raise money, published ``If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,'' an account of the alleged murders that Simpson has said is hypothetical.

The case is Nevada v. Orenthal James Simpson, 07-237890, Nevada District Court, Clark County (Las Vegas).

To contact the reporter on this story: Lindsay Fortado in Nevada state court in Las Vegas at lfortado@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 4, 2008 04:32 EDT