Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407180150
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
The KCBS report earlier this week was based on a videotape the station said was automatically stamped 10:28 on June 13, or 17 minutes before the warrant was issued by a judge.
On Friday, KCBS said it could no longer be certain the tape was made then.
``We want to apologize,'' reporter Harvey Levin said during a noon newscast. ``We now have reason to believe that we made a mistake in one of our reports.''
The district attorney's office, which denied the original report, praised the retraction as a ``responsible action.''
The report had raised questions about the legality of the search at Simpson's estate the day after his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death outside Nicole Simpson's condo.
If the prosecutor, Marcia Clark, was present before the warrant was issued, it could help the defense show that police knowingly seized evidence illegally and that it should be excluded from trial.
A source close to the investigation told The Associated Press that Clark got to the mansion at 12:30 p.m. and stayed about an hour to watch the search.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, were granted two more weeks Friday to decide whether to charge Al ``A.C.'' Cowlings with helping his friend flee during their 60-mile nationally televised freeway chase June 17.
Municipal Judge Jeffrey Wiatt ordered Cowlings to return to court July 29.
by CNB