Jurors: Secret Tapes Sank OJ

It was OJ Simpson’s own words—caught on secret recording—that sealed his fate, jurors told the media yesterday. The defense succeeded in discrediting the prosecution’s witnesses, they said, but the tapes, on which Simpson can be heard planning and carrying out the robbery, were key in their Friday verdict to convict him, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Simpson’s lawyers plan an appeal, alleging the jury was biased against him and out for “payback” for his double-murder acquittal, but the jurors refute that charge. “We’ve been painted as an all-white jury that hates OJ,” said one juror, who said she’d actually prayed for Simpson throughout the trial. “I think he's an ordinary man that made a bad decision.” (More OJ Simpson stories.)