Fuhrman Tells How Bloody Glove Was Found In Walkway -- Defense Is Expected To Push Claims That He Planted Evidence

LOS ANGELES - Detective Mark Fuhrman testified today he found a bloody glove lying atop leaves and twigs behind O.J. Simpson's mansion the morning after Simpson's ex-wife and her friend were murdered.

Describing a discovery that opened him to allegations of racism and misconduct, Fuhrman said his first worry when he saw the glove was that it could have been left by somebody still hidden in a dark walkway.

"I was somewhat alarmed of finding something such as this," he testified, adding that the glove was found on the other side of a wall where Simpson house guest Brian "Kato" Kaelin had heard bumps the night before.

Shortly after Fuhrman testified about the glove, Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark ended her questioning of him. Defense attorney F. Lee Bailey then launched into what promises to be a blistering cross-examination of Fuhrman.

The defense claims Fuhrman probably planted the glove out of racial hatred toward Simpson, or to make himself a hero.

Bailey took Fuhrman through his every move when he was called in on the investigation of the June 12 murders at Nicole Brown Simpson's house. Minute by minute, Fuhrman described how he and other officers and detectives moved around the crime scene.

Among the most important pieces of defense ammunition against Fuhrman is a letter from a woman to the defense claiming she heard Fuhrman make anti-black slurs in the mid-1980s. But Fuhrman testified Friday that he never met the woman, Kathleen Bell.

Bell told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that Fuhrman made remarks about blacks and interracial couples after she told him her friend, whom she identified only as Andrea, had a crush on black football player Marcus Allen.

Bell has been subpoenaed to testify for the defense. So has Andrea, KCAL-TV reported. Bailey identified Andrea today in court as Andrea Terry. Fuhrman denied knowing her.

Terry, who lives in Provo, Utah, refused comment today through her husband, Evan Pilgrim, but Pilgrim said she will testify if the law requires it.

Superior Court Judge Lance Ito has given the defense wide latitude to explore the alleged encounter with Bell, who claims Fuhrman denounced interracial couples.

Today, in describing the glove, Fuhrman said it appeared to him to be made of dark leather. He described it as moist or sticky, and badly out of place on the messy walkway.

"This glove didn't have any signs of dirt or twigs or leaves on it," he said.

Fuhrman said he realized the glove might be linked to the murder scene he had just left a few miles away on Bundy Drive, where the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman lay.

"It looked similar to the glove on the Bundy scene," Fuhrman said.

Now worried about his own safety, Fuhrman said, he went farther down the walkway

"I didn't know (if) I had someone who had gone all the way down the walkway. I didn't know their condition," Fuhrman said. "At that point, I didn't want to turn my back on anyone who might be watching me."

Fuhrman's calm description of his find contrasted with his testimony at a preliminary hearing, when he said: "When I found the glove and actually realized that his glove was very close in description and color to the glove at the crime scene, my heart started pounding, and I realized what I had probably found."

Fuhrman said today he escorted other detectives at Simpson's Rockingham Avenue estate to look at the glove. Later, he said, he returned to the crime scene to compare the glove to one found near the bodies.

"It appeared to be the same texture, design and color as the glove on Rockingham," he said.

He noted, also, that the crime-scene glove was a left-handed glove, and the one he found was a right-handed glove.

Fuhrman said he then returned to Simpson's house, where the lead detective, Philip Vannatter, took steps to get a search warrant. For updated reports on the O.J. Simpson trial, call The Seattle Times InfoLine, 464-2000, Ext. OJOJ (6565).