Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9411170055
SECTION: NATL/ITNL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Earlier, Superior Court Judge Lance Ito handed the prosecution a major victory in refusing to throw out DNA tests on a bloody glove and other key evidence.
After sending the prospective jurors home until Thursday, Ito sent his clerk out to buy a copy of ``Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted,'' which was released Monday and co-written by Faye Resnick, a friend of Nicole Simpson's.
The book portrays Simpson as stalking his ex-wife and threatening to kill her if she ever slept with another man.
Simpson, 47, is accused of the June 12 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.
``There are certain recent developments regarding the publication of a book that caused the court great concern about the ability of Mr. Simpson to get a fair trial,'' Ito told the jury pool.
``Because of the change in the intensity of the coverage, I'm going to have to increase the restrictions to you,'' he said. ``I am going to order you not to read any newspapers, any magazines, or watch any TV or listen to any radio.''
He later added, ``You are to stay out of bookstores.''
Ito apologized for the inconvenience but said the restrictions may last for some time.
Mike Walker, the book's co-author and general editor of the National Enquirer, defended its release.
``Does it influence the trial? I can't imagine with the billions of words that have been spoken about this case, it can have an undue influence,'' he told reporters.
by CNB