A large majority of Americans remain convinced that OJ Simpson got away with murder when he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in the “Trial of the Century”.

Thirteen years on, the former American football great may now be forced to spend the rest of his life behind bars after all.

Mr Simpson, 61, goes on trial in Las Vegas today on kidnapping, armed robbery and assault charges for an alleged hold-up of two sports memorabilia collectors at a casino hotel.

Four of his five co-accused have struck plea bargains and are ready to testify against him.

Jurors will also hear a secret tape-recording of the whole episode made by the memorabilia dealer who set up the meeting.

Jerry Reisman, a lawyer who represented Mr Simpson on business matters before the murder case, said: “For the public, it’s justice delayed.

“I think the public is going to see and hear what they want to and hope that he is convicted.

“It’s going to be difficult for OJ to get a fair trial. A lot of the public believes he was guilty of the crimes he was charged with back then and he got away with it.”

Once one of America’s biggest sports stars, Mr Simpson achieved notoriety when he was acquitted of the 1994 killing of his former wife, Nicole, and her friend Ron Goldman, in a sensational trial that polarised the nation along racial lines.

A poll on the 10th anniversary of the killings indicated that 87 per cent of whites were convinced the black super-star was guilty of the double murder, while only 29 per cent of blacks thought so.

Mr Simpson was later found liable in civil court for causing their wrongful deaths.

In 2006 he dictated a hypothetical account of the murders for a book entitled If I Did It, which became a best-seller when eventually published by Mr Goldman’s family.

Today’s trial stems from an alleged robbery of two collectors planning to sell $100,000 (£56,000) worth of sports memorabilia, including an All-American ball and other items once owned by Mr Simpson.

He and five other men allegedly rushed into the collectors’ room at the Palace Station Casino on September 13 and seized the memorabilia at gunpoint. Mr Simpson has pleaded not guilty, saying that he was just trying to reclaim his property and did not know anyone was armed.

But Michael McClinton, a bodyguard who has pleaded guilty to lesser charges, testified that Mr Simpson recruited him to carry a gun, telling him: “Show them your weapon and look menacing.”

The alleged robbery was secretly recorded by Tom Riccio, a memorabilia dealer, who later sold the tape to tmz.com, the celebrity website.

On the tape Mr Simpson is heard shouting: “Don’t let nobody out of this room. Motherf*****! You think you can steal my s*** and sell it?”

Lawyers will spend the first few days of the trial trying to pick an unbiased jury from the 500 potential ones who completed a 26-page questionnaire. The trial is expected to last five weeks.

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who covered the 1995 trial for CBS News, said: “Nothing about an OJ case is a normal case, because it’s OJ.

“A guy who can get off of a double homicide with DNA evidence is not a normal defendant. There’s going to be some pressure to vindicate the judicial system in this case.”

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