O.J. DEFENSE TAKES A MAJOR HIT

All the evidence gathered so far against O.J. Simpson can be used against him in court, Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruled. The investigators, one of whom leaped the fence of the Simpson compound, were acting "benevolently," the judge said. And the brutal murders of Nicole Simpson and her friend provided reasonable circumstances to prompt a search of O.J.'s mansion without a warrant. Thedecision is a major setback for the defense, which was hoping to have much of the most compelling evidence thrown out. But most legal experts predicted the judge's call. "Politically, we're in the midst of a crime-control wave, and there is enormous political pressure to contain crime," Professor Mary Coombs of the University of Miami Law School told TIME. "Do you want to be the judge who throws out evidence that is arguably needed for a conviction on what the public as a whole calls a technicality?" Addingto the potential bad news for Simpson, the former manager of the Chicago hotel where he stayed the morning after the murders said that police had found bloody sheets and pillowcases in the sports star's room.parpar