Simpson Team Unplugs Hot Line : Investigation: Quality and quantity of tips has dwindled, defense says. Grand jury hears several witnesses in Cowlings case.

Calls to a hot line created for tipsters with possible leads in the O.J. Simpson murder case have dropped off so precipitously in recent weeks that his attorneys have decided for now to pull the plug on the highly publicized effort, members of Simpson’s defense camp said Wednesday.

“Like anything, the initial impact was the biggest,” said Robert L. Shapiro, one of Simpson’s attorneys. “Since then, it’s worn off some.”

In its first week of operation, the toll-free number received thousands of calls--Simpson’s attorneys say they logged more than 250,000 tips within days, a rush so intense that they were forced to install extra lines to record comments deluging the hot line.

Many calls came from people sympathetic to the football great, charged with murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman. Others sought to cash in on Simpson’s offer of a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the “real killer or killers.”

But in the weeks since that first burst of phone calls, members of Simpson’s team say the quantity and quality of calls have tapered off dramatically. In recent weeks, tantalizing tips mostly have been replaced by wackier offerings and meddlesome wanna-be investigators, Simpson’s representatives say.

“Initially, it was a very good idea,” said Bill Pavelic, an investigative consultant working with the Simpson team who recommended that the hot line be shut down. “We got a lot of good leads. But the calls lately have not been as good. We get people who want to tell us how to do things, not people who have information.”

Because of that, the service was temporarily disconnected. Shapiro said Simpson’s attorneys expect to decide later this week whether to leave it off permanently. Tuesday, callers got a recorded message saying that the number was “temporarily out of service.”

Police and prosecutors say they too have seen a drop-off in credible tips. Calls and letters continue to arrive from assorted psychics and others who are bothered by dreams or visions, but new clues are becoming harder to come by. Where once several letters arrived each day, investigators now are lucky to get one or two, and those usually are not productive, authorities said.

Investigators continue to work with the clues they have, however, simultaneously moving against Simpson and probing possible charges against his friend Al Cowlings. Preliminary DNA test results point to Simpson as a likely source of blood drops found at the crime scene. Microscopic analysis of hairs discovered in a knit cap at the scene revealed that they resemble Simpson’s, sources told The Times on Tuesday.

The Cowlings case, meanwhile, is under investigation by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury, which met again Wednesday. Among the latest witnesses was Dr. Henry C. Lee, who was asked to testify about the events of June 17, when Simpson failed to surrender and instead disappeared with Cowlings for nearly six hours before being spotted driving on an Orange County freeway.

Nearly a dozen people were at the Encino home of Robert Kardashian on the morning before Simpson and Cowlings left the residence. Virtually all of them have been ordered to testify before the grand jury.

The only exceptions, sources close to the case say, are Simpson and Shapiro. Kardashian has fought his subpoena, but may still be required to take the witness stand.

Kardashian’s fiancee, Denice Shakarian-Halicki, responded to her subpoena Wednesday, arriving for the grand jury session accompanied by two lawyers. She declined to comment to reporters waiting outside. She is expected to testify again today. Paula Barbieri, Simpson’s girlfriend, also is expected to testify.

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, in his regular meeting with reporters, confirmed that the grand jury is investigating Cowlings’ actions June 17, but said the panel is being used as an investigative tool, not to seek an indictment.

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“We are there for strictly investigatory purposes,” said Garcetti, who normally does not comment on the status or purpose of grand jury investigations. “It’s a way to assist us in getting as much information as we can on whether or not Mr. Cowlings committed a crime.”

Grand juries offer prosecutors an important tool in investigating crimes because they can issue subpoenas requiring witnesses to appear. It is that power that prosecutors are taking advantage of in the Cowlings case, Garcetti said.

“The grand jury has subpoena power; we don’t,” he said. “If someone thumbs their nose at us, they can’t thumb their nose at the grand jury.”

Although Garcetti refused to comment specifically on the Simpson case, he said testimony gathered in the Cowlings investigation “can be used in any other criminal proceeding, as long as it is relevant.”

Cowlings’ attorney, Donald Re, said it would be inappropriate for Garcetti or any prosecutor to take a case to the grand jury with the intent of developing evidence against someone who already has been ordered to stand trial, in this case Simpson. But if the grand jury is investigating Cowlings and happens to come upon evidence relevant to the Simpson case, prosecutors could use that evidence, Re and other experts said.

That could prove helpful to the district attorney’s office because the Cowlings grand jury presumably is attempting to develop information about Simpson’s state of mind on the day that he failed to surrender on schedule. Investigators believe that Simpson was trying to flee prosecution when he and Cowlings left June 17. If prosecutors could prove that, it could help their cases against both men because flight to avoid prosecution could be introduced as evidence of Simpson’s guilt.

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If Simpson was intending to flee and Cowlings knew that, it would bolster the prosecution case against Cowlings as well, because it would show that he intended to help a fugitive, not prevent a friend from committing suicide, as he has claimed.

“One never knows where a grand jury investigation is going to lead one,” Garcetti said in response to questions about the Cowlings case. “If there’s other evidence that comes out that assists us in another case, you’re not going to turn your back on it.”

According to sources familiar with the case, investigators discovered nearly $10,000 and a passport among Simpson’s possessions when he was arrested June 17. Cowlings had about $7,000, the sources added.

Friends of Simpson dismiss the importance of those discoveries. Several have said Simpson often traveled with large amounts of cash, and Re said the money that his client was carrying was given to him by Simpson to pass along to his family.

The next court action in the Simpson case is expected Friday, when Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito has said he will rule on the issue of splitting blood samples taken from Simpson’s home and car, as well as from the murder scene. That issue has occupied most of the past week and has pitted attorneys for the two sides in an increasingly testy battle.

Earlier this week, Deputy Dist. Atty. Marcia Clark complained about a letter in which Shapiro publicly assailed the conduct of prosecutors. Ito said he was irritated by the behavior of lawyers on both sides, and later met behind closed doors with Clark and Shapiro to discuss his concerns.

Wednesday, in response to a question about publicity in the Simpson case, Garcetti said that prosecuting the former football player would be easier if Ito would issue a gag order preventing attorneys on both sides from publicly discussing the case.

“We’ve taken action” in that regard, Garcetti said, but declined to explain what that action was.