THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Cochran Statements ‘Lies,’ Vannatter Says : Reaction: Simpson lawyer called detective a ‘devil of deception’ in closing argument.

He wasn’t supposed to say anything about Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.’s calling him a liar to the O.J. Simpson jury, but Detective Philip L. Vannatter did anyway.

“It’s nonsense. It’s lies. It’s ridiculous,” the veteran Los Angeles Police Department investigator said Thursday, hours after Cochran referred to him as a “devil of deception” in his closing argument.

With that response, however, the strapping, white-haired officer brushed off further queries, saying he was obligated under an internal gag order to remain silent.

In fact, Vannatter and Detective Tom Lange were to be feted by other county homicide investigators Thursday night at the Police Academy for their work in the Simpson case. But the event was abruptly canceled in the wake of Cochran’s remarks in court.

“We wanted to show them our support,” said Capt. William O. Gartland, a 40-year veteran commanding officer of the storied Robbery-Homicide Division. “But it wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t the time to do it. The trial is still going on. And there is a chance for a retrial.”

A hard-boiled, respected investigator, Vannatter awoke Thursday to hear that he was a big liar. That he could not be trusted. And that he was not unlike ex-LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman, who in many people’s minds may be the worst police officer ever hired by the department.

Even Vannatter’s adversaries found the comments harsh.

“Defense lawyers accusing police of making mistakes and lying is not unusual. But to be compared to Mark Fuhrman--that is awfully strong medicine,” said defense attorney Joel Isaacson, who has a pending murder case investigated by Vannatter.

Said attorney Stephen Yagman--an outspoken LAPD critic who once unsuccessfully sued Vannatter for engaging in a high-speed pursuit of one of his investigators to serve a subpoena: “I don’t like Vannatter one bit. But there’s no evidence that he did anything inappropriate . . . and I think Mr. Cochran knows that and says otherwise anyway.”

In his closing remarks, Cochran told the jury that Vannatter and Fuhrman were the “twin devils of deception.” In dramatic fashion, Cochran displayed for the jury and the viewing world a poster labeled, “Vannatter’s Big Lies.”

At least three things Vannatter did during the course of the Simpson case are at issue for Cochran: Why did Vannatter bring a vial of Simpson’s blood to the crime scene? Did he lie when he testified that Simpson was not a suspect when police searched his mansion without a warrant hours after Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered? Why did he display a “reckless” disregard for the truth--Judge Lance A. Ito’s words--when he eventually wrote a search warrant affidavit for Simpson’s house?

“You can’t trust him,” Cochran told jurors Thursday. “You can’t believe anything he says, because it goes to the core of this case. When you are lying at the beginning, you will be lying at the end.

“The Book of Luke,” Cochran added, drawing on the New Testament, “talks about that, talks about if you are untruthful in small things you should be disbelieved in big things.”

Having worked with Vannatter for eight years, Gartland defended the man known as “Dutch,” shrugging off Cochran’s claims.

“Mr. Cochran,” he said, “is making statements to benefit his conception of a police conspiracy.”