KARDASHIAN SAYS SIMPSON TRIED TO KILL SELF IN BRONCO.

Byline: Michael Fleeman Associated Press 

O.J. Simpson tried to shoot himself in the head during the slow-speed Bronco chase but the gun misfired, his friend and attorney, Robert Kardashian, told ABC's ``20/20.''

The once-fiercely loyal Kardashian, who recently revealed his doubts about Simpson's innocence, said in the interview to be aired tonight that Simpson was self-obsessed and suicidal on the day of his arrest.

After threatening several times to kill himself at Kardashian's house with a gun wrapped in a towel, Simpson slipped away with Al ``A.C.'' Cowlings in what became the slow chase, Kardashian said.

``At one point when I was talking to O.J. on the telephone - he was in the Bronco - and he said, `Bobby, I put a gun to my head and I pulled the trigger and it didn't go off,' '' Kardashian told interviewer Barbara Walters.

``Did you believe him?'' Walters asked.

``At first I thought it was a joke,'' Kardashian said. ``After I hung up, I just kept hearing his voice, and I realized that he was telling the truth.''

Kardashian, who has known Simpson for 25 years and who may be a witness in the wrongful-death lawsuit, spoke unflatteringly of his old friend, describing him as a spoiled ex-athlete concerned only with himself.

Asked whether Simpson would have given up his life for a year and stood by Kardashian's side in court - as Kardashian did for Simpson - Kardashian replied, ``No, I don't believe he would.''

Kardashian confirmed earlier reports that Simpson badly failed a lie detector test shortly after the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

``I was devastated,'' he said. ``I didn't know what to believe. . . . O.J. said, `Every time I heard Nicole's name, my heart was pounding, I would, I would get emotional and' - that type of reaction.''

Meanwhile in court, Simpson suffered more setbacks in his civil trial.

Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki denied Simpson's request for papers linked to Faye Resnick's stay at a drug treatment center and police documents relating to former Detective Mark Fuhrman.

Fujisaki found that Simpson's lawyers filed their requests for the police papers after a court deadline, and the request for the Resnick documents was moot since they had been destroyed.

The rulings came on a short court day dedicated only to legal motions. Jury selection is on hold until Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit seeking monetary damages against Simpson over the June 1994 slayings.

Simpson's lawyers had sought visitor logs and phone records from the Exodus Recovery Center where Nicole Simpson's friend, Resnick, was staying around the time of the killings. The defense wants any record that would support Resnick's claim that she called Nicole Simpson from the center the night of the slayings.

Simpson has said that he believes the killings may somehow be linked to Resnick's drug problem.

The treatment center said phone and visitor logs are not routinely saved.

Simpson's lawyers also had sought a number of Police Department documents involving Fuhrman, including a 1993 audit report on alleged sexism and racism among officers at the West Los Angeles station. Fuhrman allegedly was part of a group called ``Men Against Women.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Robert Kardashian

Called O.J. Simpson ``spoiled''