LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The jury in O.J. Simpson's kidnap and robbery trial reached verdicts in the case on Friday night against the former football star, who was famously acquitted of murder in the 1990s "Trial of the Century."

The verdicts on 12 criminal counts against Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart were expected to be heard in a downtown Las Vegas courtroom shortly after 10 p.m. (1 a.m. EST on Saturday), a court spokesman said.

Simpson and Stewart could face life in prison if they are convicted.

The jury began considering the case at 8:45 a.m. (1:45 p.m. EST) and spent more than 12 hours behind closed doors at a downtown Las Vegas courthouse -- working through lunch and dinner -- before announcing that they had agreed on verdicts at about 9:45 p.m. (12:45 a.m. EST on Saturday).

Simpson, the star athlete turned popular celebrity who was famously acquitted of murder after the so-called "Trial of the Century" in the 1990s, was expected to be in court for the reading of the verdict and could be remanded immediately into custody if he is found guilty.

Prosecutors charge that Simpson, 61, and five associates stormed into a room at the Palace Station hotel and casino in September 2007, brandishing guns, and took thousands of dollars in memorabilia from a pair of sports collectors.

Defense lawyers argued that Simpson went to the hotel only to retrieve personal mementos that were stolen from him and that he was unaware that his sidekicks were armed.

Four of the other men originally charged in the case have agreed to plead guilty and all took the witness stand for the prosecution during nearly three weeks of trial testimony that concluded on Wednesday.

Neither Simpson nor Stewart, 54, testified in their own defense.

Simpson was charged in the June 12, 1994, stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, but was cleared at the end of a yearlong trial that transfixed much of the world.

A civil court jury later found Simpson responsible in a wrongful death suit and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages to the victims' families, a judgment that remains largely unpaid.

The Las Vegas jury's verdicts came on the 15th anniversary of Simpson's controversial "Trial of the Century" acquittal on Oct 3, 1995.

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