ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 4, 1996 TAG: 9612040061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SANTA MONICA, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Judge told the jury to forget about the lie detector evidence.
O.J. Simpson's best friend reluctantly testified Tuesday that he took Nicole Brown Simpson to the hospital after a fight with her husband and that she told him Simpson hit her.
Called to the witness stand by plaintiffs in the wrongful-death suit against Simpson, Al ``A.C.'' Cowlings gave mostly one-word ``yes'' and ``no'' answers as lawyers tried to get him to counter Simpson's sworn claim he ``never never never'' hit his wife.
Other witnesses - a dog groomer-turned-Playmate and a pharmacist - testified they saw Simpson hit his wife in the 1980s.
Cowlings was the most avidly awaited witness after Simpson himself. Boyhood friend, football teammate and Bronco driver, he appeared uncomfortable on the stand, particularly when confronted with a much-displayed photo of Nicole Simpson's bruised face taken after a fight with Simpson New Year's Eve 1989.
Cowlings said he'd been called to the house and took her to the hospital that night because he feared she might have a concussion.
Plaintiff's attorney John Kelly asked Cowlings if Nicole Simpson ever told him that Simpson hit her.
``She had told me that she was hit, yes,'' Cowlings said.
``Did she tell you that Mr. Simpson had hit her earlier that morning?'' Kelly asked.
``Yes, she probably did.''
``She did tell you, did she not?'' Kelly persisted.
``Yes.''
Also testifying was India Allen, Playboy's 1988 Playmate of the Year, who said she never forgot the fight she saw in 1983 between ``these two famous, beautiful people'' in the parking lot of a veterinarian's office.
She said she didn't come forward to disclose it until just before the current civil trial because she didn't want to be in the limelight.
Allen was the first of several witnesses called by plaintiffs to contradict statements Simpson made under oath during 21/2 days on the witness stand.
Simpson, acquitted of murder in the stabbings of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, is being sued by their relatives, who hope to persuade a jury that he's liable for their deaths and must pay millions in damages.
Defense attorney Robert Baker suggested Allen came forward in hopes that publicity would revive a career which included a movie called ``Seduced'' and a nude modeling job for Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1995.
Allen said she was bathing dogs at a veterinary hospital when Nicole Simpson came in to pick up her two chows.
``She wore a gold Spandex outfit with a fur coat over it, a silver fur coat,'' Allen recalled. They were in the parking lot when Simpson suddenly drove up in a dark blue Rolls-Royce, she said.
``He was very angry,'' she testified. ``He started yelling at her about wearing the coat out. He said, `I didn't buy this coat for you to go [expletive] somebody else. I want the coat back.'''
``That's when I saw him strike her,'' Allen said. ``He hit her across the face, and her glasses and her headband flew off. It was the only time I saw her without her sunglasses. She had a fading bruise under her eye.''
Pharmacist Albert Aguilera followed Allen to the stand, testifying that he saw O.J. Simpson strike Nicole Simpson in Laguna Beach shortly before the Fourth of July weekend in 1986.
Nicole Simpson was laughing and ``teasing'' her husband when suddenly, ``He swung his right hand and hit her across the face and she went down,'' he said. ``He crouched down over her and at first appeared to be consoling her, but then she became agitated and said, `No, no,' in a crying voice.''
Defense attorney Robert Baker suggested that Aguilera was mistaken and could not have seen or heard with precision from 20 or 30 yards away. He also accused him of changing the date of the incident after learning that Simpson was host of a charity event elsewhere on the Fourth of July weekend. Aguilera said investigators misquoted him about the dates.
The testimony came after Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki rejected a vigorous mistrial motion from Baker, who said allowing Simpson to be questioned about a private lie detector test had prejudiced the case so severely the only recourse was to declare a mistrial.
The judge, visibly concerned about his ruling, which had been cited by legal analysts as possible grounds for reversal of the entire case, gave jurors an unusually lengthy instruction to forget about the lie detector evidence.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Al ``A.C.'' Cowling testified that he took Nicoleby CNBSimpson to a hospital after she said O.J. Simpson had hit her.
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