Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995                   TAG: 9501050055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                 LENGTH: Medium

SIMPSON LAWYERS OK DNA

The lawyers, who brainstormed with Simpson over the holiday recess, said in court papers that a pretrial hearing on whether to admit DNA evidence would cost too much money, waste time and duplicate evidence presented at trial.

Instead, they plan to challenge the reliability of the evidence in front of the jury, arguing that the findings can't be trusted because of sloppy police work in gathering and testing blood samples.

Simpson, who appeared to have lost weight over the break, told Superior Court Judge Lance Ito that he agreed with the move, which wipes out a potential route of appeal if he is convicted.

``I have full confidence in my lawyers,'' Simpson said.

In another about-face, the defense dropped its opposition to sequestering the jury during the trial.

The prosecution always had sought to keep jurors at a hotel or other lodging to shield them from the extraordinary publicity surrounding the case.

Ito said he will call the 12 jurors and 12 alternates, chosen late last year, and tell them to pack their bags and prepare for life away from home beginning next Wednesday.

That's when Ito will consider a defense request that he disallow evidence of domestic violence in the Simpson home. The judge also will hear more arguments about Detective Mark Fuhrman, who found a bloody glove on Simpson's estate. The defense contends Fuhrman is a racist who planted the evidence to frame Simpson.

Simpson, 47, is charged with murder in the June 12 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.