WATCH: OJ Simpson Hotel Raid Case Hearing

OJ Simpson is back in court Thursday one day after testifying about advice he received from his former attorney before a hotel room raid that led to a sentence that might keep the former NFL Hall of Fame player in prison for the rest of his life.

An animated Simpson spoke for six hours in the Las Vegas courtroom, facing questions about advice he claims he received from attorney Yale Galanter, who represented the ex-USC Trojan during the 2008 robbery and kidnapping trial. Simpson was part of a group of men who entered the Palace Station hotel in 2007 to retrieve sports memorabilia that Simpson said went missing after his acquittal in his 1995 Los Angeles murder trial.

The 65-year-old Simpson, who did not testify at the trial, told the court Wednesday that Galanter spoke with his about retrieving the sports memorabilia over dinner.

"It seems to me that much of what we're doing here now has to do with things that he tried to keep undercover," Simpson, dressed in blue prison clothes, said. "It was my stuff. I followed what I thought was the law. My lawyer told me I couldn't break into a guy's room. I didn't break into anybody's room. I didn't try to muscle the guys. The guys had my stuff, even though they claimed they didn't steal it.''

Simpson re-stated that he was not aware two of the men in the group were carrying guns, adding that guns "were never a subject." He also said the "couple of big guys" with him at the hotel were there to help carry out the items, including signed footballs and photos.

"I don't need security," Simpson said he told others involved in a conversation at the Palms hotel on the morning of the raid.

Simpson, at times, appeared to relish the opportunity to be on the stand, using theatrical gestures and even asking a burly corrections officer to stand up to demonstrate the size of the men who accompanied him to the Palace Station. The men were there "not to start trouble but to make sure there wouldn't be any trouble," Simpson said.

Crowds at the courthouse had been small, unlike the 1995 murder trial in Los Angeles and the 2008 robbery and kidnapping trials, until Wednesday. A court marshal turned people away, sending more than 15 people to an overflow room where video of Simpson's testimony was streamed live.

Simpson and his attorneys are attempting to prove during the weeklong hearing that his trial attorney mishandled the case. Simpson wants a new trial because he says his longtime lawyer failed to disclose that he knew about the hotel room raid in advance, told Simpson it was legal and provided bad advice at trial.

The new challenge follows the Nevada Supreme Court's denial of Simpson's 2010 appeal, also handled by Galanter. Simpson's new attorney filed the writ of habeas corpus in May 2012, seeking her client's release from prison and reversal of the conviction.

He has already served four years in prison, but must serve nine of the maximum 33-year sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Four Simpson co-defendants pleaded guilty to felonies and testified for the prosecution. A fifth defendant, Clarence "C.J.'' Stewart, was convicted and served more than two years in prison before the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that Simpson's fame tainted Stewart's conviction.

A judge eventually ruled that the items in the hotel room should be delivered to Simpson's civil case attorney.