GLOVE STORY II

By Elaine Lafferty/Los Angeles

If O.J. Simpson's acquittal last year were reduced to a talisman, a single object of both concealment and revelation, it would have to be the bloody glove found at the Simpson estate. Once considered the most damning physical evidence, the glove became a symbol of murky police conspiracy and prosecutorial miscalculation. Last week Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki gave the glove a starring role in the Simpson civil-case sequel, ruling that the defense would be allowed to argue that former L.A.P.D. detective Mark Fuhrman planted it--and by doing so, framed Simpson. Judge Fujisaki called the evidence of a planting theory "slim" but explained that Fuhrman's plea of no contest to perjury gave him no choice. While declaring that he didn't want "grandiose theories placed before a jury," Fujisaki handed the defense several other plums. Among the items they will be allowed to contend were planted as part of a frame-up: blood belatedly gathered from a gate at Nicole Brown Simpson's condominium, bloody socks found in Simpson's bedroom and blood gathered from the Ford Bronco two weeks after the murders. Still, says Los Angeles civil attorney Sandy Astor, "this ruling was expected, even without Fuhrman's plea. Nobody ever said that thin evidence is not admissible just because it's thin."

Inside the courtroom, jury selection dragged on, with 102 people in the pool so far. Outside, the cacophony from the first trial continued. A new book, American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense, by Lawrence Schiller and TIME correspondent James Willwerth, quotes Robert Kardashian, the former Simpson confidant, as saying he now has doubts about Simpson's innocence. "What he's doing is violating attorney-client privilege," defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran charged, as he was busy promoting his own memoirs.

--By Elaine Lafferty/Los Angeles