Coroner Says Time of Death Is Imprecise

The Los Angeles County Coroner said today that his office was unable to determine the exact time that Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman were killed, and that the time of their deaths might never be known.

The coroner, Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, spent much of the day at O. J. Simpson's trial still on direct examination, detailing minutiae of autopsy analysis like liver temperatures and the extent of rigor mortis in the corpses. But after nearly eight days of his testimony, the prosecution's best witness for pinpointing the time of death is still only a dog that wandered around Mrs. Simpson's neighborhood, barking forlornly, until it led neighbors to her front gate and her body. The dog, an Akita, belonged to Mrs. Simpson.

The time of death has become crucial in the case because Mr. Simpson left his home to catch a flight to Chicago about 11 P.M. on the night of the killings, which his defense lawyers have said did not leave him enough time to commit the crimes.

The coroner estimated that the two victims died between 9 P.M. on June 12 and 12:45 A.M. on June 13, basing his estimate solely on scientific data, excluding other information. Their slashed and stabbed bodies were discovered by a neighbor about midnight.

These times are so imprecise, the coroner acknowledged, that they encompass periods when the victims were known to be still alive.

"We can only give an estimated range," Dr. Sathyavagiswaran said. "We cannot give any precision."

Mr. Simpson's alibi has been that he was at home, about two miles from Mrs. Simpson's condominium, around 10 P.M., which is roughly when the prosecution has said the killings occurred. The defense has said that even if that time of death is correct, Mr. Simpson would not have had the time to drive to his former wife's home, kill the two victims, return to his home and clean what was surely a prodigious amount of blood from his clothing before leaving for the airport. The driver of the limousine that took him to the airport that night, Allan Park, testified that he picked Mr. Simpson up about 11 P.M.