Expert Tells Of 2Nd Set Of Footprints -- He Says Shoes Had Different Pattern

LOS ANGELES - Henry Lee, one of the most prominent criminalists in the world, testified yesterday that he detected a second set of footprints outside Nicole Brown Simpson's condominium on Bundy Drive, where she and Ronald Goldman were slashed and stabbed to death, that could not have come from Bruno Magli shoes.

In testimony that held the jury and spectators transfixed, Lee told the jury that the imprints were on the walkway, on the envelope that contained Juditha Brown's eyeglasses and on a piece of white paper near Goldman's body that appeared in a crime-scene photograph but was not collected by police.

Lee said the second set of prints had a parallel-line pattern different from the grid-like pattern on the Bruno Magli prints identified by an FBI expert who testified earlier for the prosecution. The prosecution was unable to establish that Simpson owned such a pair of shoes.

Asked by defense lawyer Barry Scheck if the print could have come from Goldman's boot, Lee said, "No, I studied the boot."

The jurors listened carefully, many leaning forward in their seats. Prosecutor Cheri Lewis shook her head and returned to her seat after looking at the photo exhibits.

Lee is chief criminalist for the state of Connecticut and director of the State Police Forensic Science Laboratory there.

Earlier in the day a friend of the couple testified that in the months before the murders, O.J. and Nicole Simpson made several failed attempts to repair their broken marriage that often left both of them upset and depressed.

But on the evening of the murders, the friend said, the football hall-of-famer was in good spirits, sounding relaxed and even jovial. "It was a very friendly, very open, happy conversation," Christian Reichardt said.

Reichardt is a chiropractor and an ex-boyfriend of Faye Resnick, a recovering drug addict and close friend of Nicole Simpson who stayed with her until about a week before the murders. He described himself as a close friend of both O.J. and Nicole Simpson.

Simpson's lawyers had wanted Reichardt to testify about Resnick's drug problems to bolster their theory that the murders were drug-related, but Superior Court Judge Lance Ito said there was no evidence to support that claim.

Reichardt said Simpson called him about 9 p.m. on June 12, 1994, shortly before the murders and spoke to him for about 15 minutes about his ex-wife, his upcoming trip to Chicago and about dinner plans for later that week.

Also yesterday, the jury heard from Chicago police detective Kenneth Berris, who testified that police found blood stains and broken glass in Simpson's hotel suite June 13 shortly after he checked out and returned to Los Angeles.

Simpson has said he cut his left middle finger on a glass in his hotel room after being informed of the murders, not at the murder scene as prosecutors contend. But on cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden, Berris conceded he did not see blood on the shattered glass and could not determine when the blood got on the washcloth and bedsheet. He also acknowledged he saw no blood on the bathroom floor, carpet or telephone.