Jim Brown May Resist Warrant in Rape Inquiry

Saying he might risk imprisonment to protect his principles, former professional football star Jim Brown indicated Monday that he is undecided whether to comply with a search warrant seeking pubic hair and saliva samples in connection with a rape charge filed against him.

“I’m going to think about it,” Brown said outside the courtroom after Los Angeles Municipal Judge Candace D. Cooper ruled that she would sign the warrant requested by the district attorney’s office. “If I have to go to jail to prove a point, I have to go to jail.”

In court, Brown, who has vigorously maintained his innocence, told Cooper, “I feel I have been improperly harassed (by the district attorney’s office).”

The one-time record-setting fullback, now an actor, is charged with raping a 33-year-old woman in his Hollywood Hills home in February.

The woman told police that Brown and a second woman who lives in his house, Carol Moses, sexually assaulted her after Brown struck her several times. But in grand jury testimony, Moses countered that Brown only attempted to halt a fight between the alleged victim and Moses when the alleged victim tried to molest Moses in Brown’s bedroom.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dino Fulgoni told Cooper that to prepare his case, he needs samples of Brown’s saliva and pubic hair and permission to enter Brown’s home.

If Brown, 49, refuses to abide by the ruling, he could face contempt of court proceedings, his lawyer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., said.

Cochran called the search warrant part of “a gigantic fishing expedition in order to get evidence on Mr. Brown. . . . We have to draw the line at some point.”