LETTER TO COURT LOOKED PHONY, DARDEN SAYS.

Byline: Michael Fleeman Associated Press 

O.J. Simpson prosecutor Chris Darden said Friday an anonymous letter accusing a juror of misconduct ``looked bogus'' and could have forced a mistrial, but he acknowledged he had no proof who sent it.

``I am not suggesting that I know the specific source of this letter. I have my suspicions. At this point, that's all they are,'' Darden said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where he was promoting his book.

Darden also said that neither the District Attorney's Office nor Superior Court Judge Lance Ito ever investigated the source of the handwritten letter accusing a juror of seeking a book deal.

And, transcripts from closed-door discussions at the time of the juror's dismissal show that Ito had no intention of ever investigating since he was intending to bounce the juror for a different reason.

``It's a waste of my time,'' Ito told attorneys in the May 25, 1995, discussion.

Darden did not say who he believed wrote the letter but made it clear he felt the defense was aggressively trying to oust the juror at that time.

``I believe the defense was targeting this juror,'' he said.

Simpson attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. told CNN the criminal defense team knew nothing about the source of the letter.

The issue of the letter resurfaced last week as CBS-TV's ``60 Minutes'' announced that Sunday it will air its first Simpson story, focusing on the letter and its role in the dismissal of Francine Florio-Bunten.

The unsigned letter, dated May 12, 1995, and addressed to the court, was postmarked Los Angeles. The writer described herself as a receptionist for a literary agent and claimed her boss had an agreement with a juror and her husband to write a book called ``Standing Alone: A Verdict for Nicole.''

Florio-Bunten was confronted about the letter and denied knowing anything about a book deal. Her ultimate dismissal, in fact, was not directly due to the letter. Ito ejected her for allegedly lying to him about a note passed to her from another juror, according to court records.

The note from the other juror, who also was dismissed, was to alert Florio-Bunten that Ito was looking into reports of ``a juror writing a book.'' Florio-Bunten was accused of lying when she denied reading the note.

Florio-Bunten did not return phone messages seeking comment. Her attorney, Rex Reeves, said he didn't want to comment on the matter until after the ``60 Minutes'' show aired.

In the telephone interview, Darden said that he long considered the letter a fake.

``It sounded bogus. It looked bogus,'' he said.

He said that anyone who sent such a false letter could have committed a crime, and breached ethics if an attorney was involved.

``It smacks of obstruction of justice,'' he said. ``To send a false letter like this and to be a lawyer certainly would have violated the rules of ethics.''

Darden also suggested that if it could have been proven that the letter was false, a mistrial could have been declared. Yet no such proof ever came.

``There was never any follow-up investigation,'' he said.

Darden said that the District Attorney's Office lacked jurisdiction to investigate jurors; it would be up to Ito. The judge declined.