After a deliberation process that demanded 13 hours, the jury assembled for OJ Simpson’s trial reached its decision, finding the football star guilty on 12 criminal counts. The trial focused on the accusations of armed robbery and kidnapping, which happened in a Las Vegas casino hotel last year. Many believe that the harsh sentence is closely connected to the acquittal in his widely debated 1995 murder trial.

Simpson attorney Yale Galanter appeared extremely upset with the ruling, saying that the jury selection was intentionally conducted on choosing only whites, in order to ensure this outcome. He plans to prepare the appeal using this aspect. He also believes that his client was convicted as a payback for the double-murder acquittal.

The jurors, 11 whites and one Latina, stated that Simpson’s previous issues with the law were not at all a factor in their deliberation and also dismissed the racial accusations. "We've been painted as an all-white jury that hates O.J.," said Dora Pettit, one of seven jurors at the news conference. "That's not true." She also said it is indeed unfortunate that he faces the same charges as a bank robber and that in her opinion OJ is just an ordinary man who made a bad decision.

According to the jury’s statement, the case would have had a whole different outcome if some tapes secretly recorded in a restaurant hadn’t been included as evidence. The tapes featured Simpson discussing the heist and also asking his friend Michael Mc Clinton if he was packing his "piece," even though throughout the trial he denied ever seeing a gun or demanding the other men to bring one and claimed that his only interest was to retrieve family heirlooms taken by a former manager.

"It would have been a very weak case," Pettit said about the missing tapes scenario. Juror David Wieberg as well as the rest of the jurors agreed to the statement.

Simpson, 61, is facing life in prison and he will be sentenced by Judge Jackie Glass on Dec. 5. Until then, he will be held at the Clark County Detention Center.

On Sunday, attorney Yale Galanter said that his client is "obviously a little depressed, melancholy" but also hopeful at the chances of an appeal.

Once the verdict was delivered, the Clark County Court released several documents, including copies of the 27-page questionnaires answered by the 12 jurors, five of them admitting that they disagreed with the 1995 trial’s verdict. "I know some of the jurors are saying it didn't enter into their decision. That's beyond belief. It just defies common logic," Galanter said.

Simpson's trial in the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman was at the time named the trial of the century, being widely debated by the worldwide media. Co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart, who was also convicted of the same charges, will play this defense card, as he claims that he is a victim of the strong public sentiment against Simpson’s well-known history.