Simpson Charged In Killings -- `Special Circumstances' Are Cited As Da's Office Files Two Murder Counts

LOS ANGELES - Murder charges were filed today against O.J. Simpson in the slayings of his ex-wife and a male friend.

Mike Botula, district attorney's office spokesman, said Simpson was charged with two counts of murder with "special circumstances" because of the multiple killings.

Under California law, that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty if Simpson were convicted.

"A final decision on whether we would seek the death penalty will be made at a later time," Botula said.

Simpson was scheduled to be arraigned later in the day. Botula said prosecutors would oppose bail.

The charge read that Simpson "did willfully, unlawfully and with malice and aforethought, murder Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being.

"In the commission and attempted commission of the above offense the defendant, O.J. Simpson, personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon. To wit; a knife."

The same charge was repeated for Goldman murder.

Police Lt. John Dunkin said there was a "significant change" in the investigation, but wouldn't elaborate.

CNN reported that a source said a second person may also have been somehow involved in the killings, but Botula said no one else was charged today.

The 46-year-old Simpson has denied any involvement in the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and Ronald Goldman, 25. Their bodies were found Sunday night outside Nicole Simpson's condominium in the city's Brentwood section.

Reflecting the high-profile nature of the case, hordes of reporters and photographers stationed themselves at the entrances to Parker Center, the downtown police headquarters.

A news helicopter circled the building.

For days, evidence against the Hall of Fame football star has mounted.

Police were analyzing a military-style entrenching tool, which resembles a sharp-edged shovel, the Los Angeles Daily News reported today. The newspaper said investigators believed the bloodstained tool was used in the attacks.

KCOP-TV in L.A. cited law enforcement sources close to the case last night as saying they concluded the weapon was a sharp military knife.

Simpson flew to Chicago from Los Angeles late Sunday for a business meeting, then returned a few hours later after he was told of his ex-wife's death.

Detective Bert Luper, one of two Los Angeles officers in Chicago investigating the slayings, said someone who stopped at a gas station near the O'Hare Plaza Hotel in Chicago reported seeing a person who looked like Simpson in a nearby field.

Luper wouldn't say what searchers were looking for. "We're working on an anonymous tip," he said.

Police reportedly found a bloody ski mask in O.J. Simpson's mansion, said the Daily News.

In another development, the Los Angeles Times reported today that a woman who jogged by Mrs. Simpson's condo about the time of the killings told a detective that a vehicle generally resembling Simpson's was parked across the street. "I saw a light-colored Ford Bronco or Blazer-type car," the woman, who requested anonymity, told the Times. The newspaper had reported previously that bloodstains were found in Simpson's white Ford Bronco.

Simpson's lawyer has said that at the time of the slayings, Simpson was two miles away at his Brentwood mansion waiting for a limousine ride to the airport.

But the limo driver said Simpson wasn't home when he arrived at 10:45 p.m., according to TV reports. The driver said a sweaty and agitated Simpson got in the limo shortly after 11 p.m. The driver, who was not identified, has been interviewed by detectives, the syndicated TV program "Hard Copy" reported.

A friend of Simpson's, Howard Bingham, told The Boston Globe he was with Simpson on Sunday's 11:45 p.m. flight to Chicago and "nothing seemed different about him."

"He was talking to me about his golf game," Bingham said. "He wasn't bleeding. I shook hands with him in the airport and in Chicago. He seemed like always. This whole thing is unbelievable."

Yesterday Simpson attended his ex-wife's funeral. He emerged from a white limousine and kissed his 9-year-old daughter, Sydney, and 6-year-old son, Justin, as he entered St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church. Goldman's funeral was yesterday, too.

The burials were haunted by the possibility of exhumations. Simpson's attorney, Robert Shapiro, had said he wanted a leading national pathologist to conduct his own autopsies to check the work of the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Yesterday Simpson's legal team hired Dr. Michael Baden, an autopsy specialist and a former chief pathologist for New York City, and Dr. Henry Lee, a renowned forensic scientist from Connecticut.

But Shapiro said he had temporarily dropped plans to exhume the bodies in deference to the victims' families and instead was asking for the cooperation of the Los Angeles County coroner's office in supplying his pathologist with information.

There was an undercurrent of anger as 500 mourners gathered to bury Goldman.

"I want O.J. to turn himself in, that's all," said Frank Enderle, a friend of Goldman's. "Now O.J., if you turn yourself in at least your children would have some money because you are going to spend all your money on court cases and you are going to lose."

The rental-car company Hertz said today it was "shocked and saddened" by the charges against the man who has been an advertising spokesman for the company since 1975.

"Obviously, Hertz has no plans to utilize Mr. Simpson in advertising," Hertz said in a statement from its headquarters in Park Ridge, N.J. Information from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.

------------------------------------ CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS -----------------------------------

Sunday, June 12

6 p.m. (all times PDT) - O.J. Simpson and ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, leave dance recital involving 9-year-old daughter in West Los Angeles.

6:30 p.m. - Nicole Simpson, half-dozen friends dine at Mezzaluna restaurant in Brentwood near her townhouse. O.J. Simpson is not present. Goldman is on duty as a waiter but does not serve party.

8:30 p.m. - Nicole Simpson leaves Mezzaluna, calls later to say she left sunglasses behind. Goldman offers to bring them to her.

9:45 p.m. - Goldman leaves for her house.

11 p.m. - Approximate time of murders outside Nicole Simpson's home, according to O.J. Simpson's original lawyer, Howard Weitzman.

11:45 p.m. - O.J. Simpson takes flight to Chicago.

Monday, June 13

12:10 a.m. - Bodies of Nicole Simpson and Goldman found.

4:15 a.m. - O.J. Simpson checks into Chicago's O'Hare Plaza Hotel, where he is called by L.A. police and summoned home.

6:30 a.m. - Simpson checks out of hotel.

11:08 a.m. - Simpson arrives in L.A., is questioned for three hours by police and released.

Tuesday, June 14 - Los Angeles Times reports that Simpson is prime suspect. Weitzman says Simpson was either en route to airport or in air at time of murders.

Wednesday, June 15 - Weitzman drops out of case, is replaced by high-profile criminal attorney Robert Shapiro. Shapiro changes Simpson's alibi, saying he was home waiting for limousine to airport at time of murders.

Yesterday - Los Angeles Times reports that O.J. Simpson's blood type matches that of blood found at murder scene. Simpson attends ex-wife's funeral. Goldman is also buried.