Jury Sketches Too Accurate, Ito Tells Artist

Cracking down on what he viewed as a threat to the anonymity of jurors in the O.J. Simpson murder case, Judge Lance A. Ito on Friday ordered a nationally known courtroom artist to submit his drawings for approval before they are aired or broadcast.

The order was prompted by the work of Bill Robles, but applies to any artist who provides sketches of the Simpson jury to news organizations. It is based on a court rule prohibiting “close-up depictions of jurors” in the media as well as an earlier order by Ito requiring that the identities of Simpson jurors not be disclosed.

Robles’ juror sketches are done without facial features, but Ito described them Friday as nevertheless “astonishing in their accuracy.” He said he had seen one of the drawings a few days earlier on television.

Ito summoned Robles to his courtroom for a hearing and ordered him to bring with him all the jury drawings he had done.

At the hearing Friday morning, Robles’ lawyer, Beth A. Finley, struck a conciliatory note, saying Robles had not honored an informal agreement to get his drawings approved because he sometimes could not find the court employee who handles such matters.

Later, in a private session, the judge viewed some of the sketches and asked Robles to, in the future, tone down identifying details such as distinctive hairstyles and body builds of jurors.

Robles said he would comply. He was involved in a similar controversy during the 1993 federal civil rights trial of the police officers who beat Rodney G. King.

In another development in the Simpson case Friday, a man who had volunteered to be a defense witness said he had changed his mind.

Phillip Coleman, 45, had offered to be a character witness for Kathleen Bell, who has accused a key detective in the case of being a racist. Coleman also said he could back up some of her allegations about Detective Mark Fuhrman.

On Friday, Coleman said he now does not want to testify because he is troubled by the “silly sideshow” aspect of the trial, which he said did not warrant his participation.

Coleman specifically cited the defense team and Simpson “warmly embracing” and shaking the hand of a police criminalist whose integrity had been strenuously attacked by a defense lawyer.

Simpson’s lead lawyers could not be reached for comment and it was unclear whether Coleman could add anything to the allegations of Bell, who claimed that Fuhrman once made derogatory remarks about blacks and interracial couples. Defense lawyers say racism, among other things, is behind what they contend was a police frame-up of Simpson, who is black and whose murdered ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, was white. The detective and the Police Department have denied any impropriety.

Testimony is expected to resume Monday when a police crime lab administrator is scheduled to take the stand in the trial of the former athlete, who has pleaded not guilty to killing his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman.