DANA POINT – Family members of O.J. Simpson's slain ex-wife say they wish to remain private as they “work through many mixed emotions” in the wake of the former football star's conviction on kidnapping and armed robbery in an unrelated case in Las Vegas.

The family of Nicole Brown Simpson said in a short statement issued Saturday that they are primarily concerned about the two children from the marriage. They said they “deeply love and cherish” the two, Sydney and Justin.

O.J. Simpson was acquitted of brutally murdering his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman after a sensational yearlong trial in 1995.

In a separate case, a jury convicted him late Friday of holding up two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a bid to reclaim his football mementoes.