LOS ANGELES (AFP) - OJ Simpson appeared in a Las Vegas court on Monday, hoping to be retried for a September 2007 casino hotel robbery on grounds that his longtime lawyer had botched his defence.

Dressed in a blue prison outfit, the 65-year-old former American football star and actor - famously acquitted for the 1994 murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown - was in handcuffs as he closely followed the proceedings.

Simpson, who is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada state penitentiary for armed robbery and kidnapping, is to testify on Wednesday, followed on Friday by his former attorney Yale Galanter.

In a 94-page petition, Simpson alleges Galanter knew of his intention to recover personal items, which he was ultimately convicted of trying to steal at gunpoint from two memorabilia dealers at the Sands Station hotel.

He also claims that Galanter did not tell him about a plea bargain offer that might have resulted in a substantially shorter period behind bars.

Simpson was convicted 13 years to the day after his acquittal in the murder of Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman, following a sensational "trial of the century" in Los Angeles.