Thanks to what may have been an attempt to look tough, O.J. Simpson could find his position substantially weakened.

According to a 45-page transcript of a police interview with accused armed-robbery accomplice Walter Alexander, who has opted to plead to a lesser charge and testify against the former football star, Simpson wanted to bring more than his bargaining skills to a meeting with two sports memorabilia dealers.

"O.J. said, 'Hey, just bring some firearms,' " Alexander told Las Vegas authorities, per the Associated Press. "He said…'We won't have to use 'em, but…just to look tough, you know, so that these people know that, you know, we're here for business.' "

Simpson, Alexander and four other men were charged last month with 10 felony counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, assault, burglary and conspiracy for allegedly stealing $80,000 worth of memorabilia from two collectors at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino Sept. 13. The Naked Gun actor is also facing an additional count of coercion.

Alexander said Monday he would plead guilty to felony conspiracy to commit robbery, which could net him up to six years in prison. Fellow defendant Charles Cashmore, 40, is planning to plead guilty to felony accessory to robbery, which carries a possible five-year prison term. Attorneys for both men have said they'll ask the court for probation. A hearing is set for Oct. 23.

Cashmore's attorney said his client plans to testify as to who was packing heat the night in question, while Alexander's lawyer said the 46-year-old real estate agent could clarify Simpson's role in the incident.

The erstwhile murder defendant has maintained he only wanted to meet with Beardsley and Fromong to retrieve items he says were stolen from him by a former agent. He said guns were not involved.

Simpson's credibility could be damaged if Alexander and Cashmore—who supported Alexander's account in a recent interview with Today—are telling the truth, according to legal analysts.

Attorney Yale Galanter told the Associated Press, however, that his client's position hasn't changed.

"There was no reason for Mr. Simpson to tell anyone to bring guns. He was going to see people he knew," Galanter said, adding that Alexander "was negotiating for a get-out-jail-free card" when he gave his statement.

In his interview with police, Alexander stated that Simpson and auctioneer Thomas Riccio, who set up and then tape-recorded the meeting, did not go into the room until he and codefendant Michael McClinton arrived.

"It's like they didn't wanna go to the meeting until me and Spence [aka McClinton] showed up with the heat," he said.

Alexander copped to toting a .22-caliber handgun, given to him by McClinton, in his waistband. McClinton, he said, then displayed a larger gun once they were in the hotel room.

"Spencer went in kinda, you know, being Mr. Tough Guy," Alexander recalled. His behavior "made things a lot worse than they probably would've been."

Simpson's longtime golfing buddy said his pal appeared surprised by McClinton's aggressiveness and tried to calm him down. McClinton then told Simpson he wanted to make sure that the collectors, Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley, were unarmed, Alexander said.

Cashmore said on Today that one of the men had a gun hidden on his person and that McClinton went into the room acting like a cop and brandishing his weapon.

"It seemed to escalate a little higher than it should have," Cashmore told Matt Lauer. "At that point in time, I was just basically in shock.”

"I mean, Juice had told him just to carry the gun, not to, you know, take it out, just to show it," Alexander continued. "But now he brought the gun out and he was like, you know, 'Up against the walls, up against the walls.' "

And perhaps, in so doing, he turned what could have been construed as a misunderstanding into a full-scale legal disaster that could land Simpson in prison for the rest of his life.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 8, and Simpson, who lives in Miami and is currently free on a $125,000 bond, is expected to appear.