In Day 2 on the stand, Simpson faces barrage of questioning

  Jonathan T. Lovitt

  11/26/1996

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 06A

  (Copyright 1996)

  SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- It was by far the most emotional day of this trial. A

  crowd of hundreds shouted outside. Lawyers fought bitterly, accusing each other

  of ``showboating.'' Jurors looked taut as they frantically took notes.

  But no one seemed more drained than O.J. Simpson, the man on the witness

  stand, defending himself against a wrongful-death suit filed by the families of

  Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

  By day's end, Simpson was haggard and subdued, his customary smile wiped

  away, his voice sometimes a whisper..

  Courtroom analysts were mixed on his performance.

  ``This case is over,'' lawyer and jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn says. ``His

  story didn't fly with that jury or anybody else. If you can't trust the messenger,

  you can't trust the message.''

  But defense lawyer Gerry Spence, who's not connected with the case, gave

  Simpson high marks for his cool demeanor under questioning from Daniel

  Petrocelli, lawyer for the Goldmans.

  ``The questions were harsh, strident, dramatic, intended to raise hackles on the

  man and the hackles stayed unruffled,'' Spence said. ``The best thing that

  happened for the plaintiffs is he didn't have any good answers to the important

  questions.''

  If the families prove Simpson is liable in this civil court for the June 12, 1994,

  killings of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Goldman, he could be ordered to

  pay millions. The two were knifed to death outside Nicole's Brentwood condo

  between 10:15 and 10:40 p.m.

  Simpson was acquitted after a year-long criminal trial last year.

  Monday, Simpson steadfastly denied every charge against him, sometimes

  amending earlier sworn statements.

  When he was first interrogated by police the day after the murders, he told them

  he had tried to call his girlfriend, Paula Barbieri, while driving around in his

  Bronco at 10:03 p.m. the night before. Then he went home, he said. He added

  that he ran out to the Bronco later to grab the cell phone, which is when he cut

  his hand.

  But on the stand, Simpson was certain he didn't cut himself at all that night. He

  cut his left finger on a broken glass the next morning, he said. And he testified

  he had no small, fingernail-shaped cuts the day after the murders.

  As for the cell phone, Simpson testified he never called Barbieri from the

  Bronco. He said he brought the phone in the house much earlier and was outside

  walking the dog when he made the call.

  Petrocelli at times held his face just inches from Simpson. He mocked the whole

  story, suggesting it was invented for his alibi. If the phone was in the Bronco at

  10 p.m., Petrocelli said, ``It ruins your alibi, because you're in the Bronco and

  not at home.''

  Simpson also agreed Monday that he initially had told police that he had failed to

  answer his front buzzer rung by the limo driver at about the time the murders

  because he was hurriedly packing for a business trip to Chicago.

  But he never mentioned all the other elements of his alibi to police -- that he

  spent some of that time out chipping golf balls in the yard, moving his Bronco

  into the driveway, walking the dog, then showering at the time the limo driver

  rang.

  Petrocelli accused Simpson of crafting a story to fit the previous accounts of

  other witnesses, then rehearsing it.

  ``I don't think I rehearsed it, but I've told it before,'' Simpson said.

  Petrocelli also may have raised doubts about whether Simpson believes police

  framed him -- a central theme in his defense. While questioning Simpson about

  the infamous slow-speed chase, Petrocelli read a transcript of a phone call

  between Simpson and former police detective Tom Lange.

  Lange was ``urging you, begging you not to harm yourself with the gun,''

  Petrocelli said. Then he read Simpson's response at the time: ``Just tell them all

  I'm sorry . . . I did this to the police department. Hey, you've been good to me. .

  .you've been honest with me.''

  Robert Baker, Simpson's lawyer, spent much of the day in a fury, shouting at

  Petrocelli for talking in ``sound bites.'' But this stage of Simpson's ordeal is

  almost over.

  Petrocelli finished with him Monday. The lawyer for Nicole's family and

  Goldman's mother ask a few more questions today.

  Today, Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki is expected to dismiss a young, white woman

  juror for making comments about a lawyer's attire.

  The jewelry saleswoman, who had said she had no opinion about the criminal

  case, was the subject of complaints from fellow panelists. She'll be the first of

  the 12 jurors to be replaced by an alternate.

  Contributing: Richard Price

  PHOTO, B/W, Mark J. Terrill, AP; Caption: Mob scene: Members of the media

  and fans surround the vehicle carrying O.J. Simpson to lunch Monday outside

  Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica. Inside: Lawyers fought,

  and Simpson seemed subdued.