SIMPSON TACKLES TOUGH QUESTIONS ABOUT EVIDENCE : DEFENDANT QUERIED ON BLOOD, SHOES.

Byline: Anne Burke and Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writers

O.J. Simpson was unable to explain Monday why blood matching his was found at the scene where his ex-wife and her friend were knifed to death, and labeled as fake a photograph apparently depicting him wearing Bruno Magli shoes he previously swore he never owned.

It was another dramatic day in court as plaintiff lawyer Daniel Petrocelli grilled Simpson with escalating intensity about his movements on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were killed.

Simpson's refrain during his second day of testimony in the wrongful death trial was a series of ``don't knows'' when questioned how blood matching his and that of the victims got in the Bronco, how he suffered cuts to his hand, and how his ex-wife's blood ended up on socks found in his bedroom.

In a dramatic exchange, Simpson was shown a photograph of a curved cut on his left middle finger, taken by police a day after the slayings. Prodded by Petrocelli, Simpson revealed that he still has a scar from the injury.

``It was a fingernail mark, wasn't it, sir?'' Petrocelli asked, suggesting that the gouge was caused by one victim's death grip.

``I seriously doubt that,'' Simpson said.

``It was somebody's fingernails ripping into your skin, wasn't it?'' Petrocelli asked.

Simpson replied that his then 5-year-old son could have caused the wound while they were ``rassling'' a few days after the killings.

The New Jersey-raised Petrocelli was in attack mode all afternoon, jabbing his finger toward the defendant, pacing back and forth in front of the witness box and deflecting angry objections from Simpson lead attorney Robert Baker as a packed Santa Monica courtroom sat spellbound.

Legal analyst Stan Goldman, a professor at Loyola University Law School, said Petrocelli had caught Simpson in some apparently evasive answers.

``O.J. may be telling the truth, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to swallow all those nonexplanations for how the blood got there,'' he said.

Simpson did, however, give a detailed account of a crucial 86-minute period on the night of the killings when he claimed he was chipping golf balls in the yard, letting his dog out for a walk, lying in bed, showering and packing for an overnight trip to Chicago.

``I was playing a new set of golf clubs (and) looking for my old sand wedge,'' he began. ``I looked in my trunk . . . my dog went across the street . . . (I) turned off the lights downstairs.''

Michael Brewer, attorney for Ronald Goldman's biological mother, Sharon Rufo, and John Q. Kelly, attorney for the Brown estate, will briefly question Simpson next, followed by the ex-football star's own lawyer.

Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki is expected today to dismiss one of the jurors, a white woman in her 30s, for alleged misconduct, according to the Associated Press. Her replacement from the alternate pool will be chosen by lottery, the wire service said.

Before testimony ended, Simpson maintained that he never owned Bruno Magli shoes like those he is pictured wearing in a 1993 photo displayed for the jury. The shoes were linked to size-12 prints discovered near the bodies of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

``My opinion is that it is a fraud,'' Simpson said.

Petrocelli also confronted Simpson about a polygraph test resulting in a score of minus 22, suggesting ``extreme deception.''

Although he denied in his deposition ever taking a polygraph test, Simpson acknowledged on the stand that he was wired to the lie-detector machine at a private office in order to familiarize himself with the device.

Petrocelli wrapped up his examination by citing the slow-speed Bronco chase before finishing with the core of the plaintiffs' case in a series of harsh rapid-fire questions.

``You . . . confronted Nicole and you killed her, correct?'' Petrocelli asked.

``Uh, no, Mr. Petrocelli, that's totally, absolutely incorrect,'' Simpson said.

``And Ron Goldman came upon you unexpectedly when you were with Nicole. He got into a fight with you when he was trying to stop you?''

``I didn't know Ron Goldman,'' Simpson replied.

``And you cut him and you slashed him until he died and collapsed in your arms? True or untrue?''

``Untrue,'' Simpson said.

``And you left him to die there, Mr. Simpson, with his eyes open looking right at you, true or untrue?

``That's not true,'' Simpson said.

Although he is being sued for millions, Simpson, 49, has said he is broke and must sell his assets to pay his legal bills. He already has sold his New York apartment and a Ferrari sports car. His Brentwood estate is reportedly under an Internal Revenue Service lien.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Attorney Daniel Petrocelli returns for the afternoon session.

(2--Color) O.J. Simpson leaves the courthouse during the lunch break.

A June 13, 1994, police photograph showing O.J. Simpson's cut finger was presented in court.

Associated Press