Kaelin Admits Contradictions, Withheld Facts From Prosecutor O.J. Trial Witness Recounts Argument On Christmas Eve

Under sharp questioning by the prosecution and the defense, Brian “Kato” Kaelin admitted Thursday that he contradicted statements he had made to a grand jury and that he had withheld information from the district attorney.

On the witness stand for a third day, the frequently befuddled fledgling actor also told how O.J. Simpson pressured him not to move into Nicole Brown Simpson’s condominium.

During questioning Wednesday from Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark, Kaelin said O.J. Simpson appeared upset and possibly angry when describing the tight dress Nicole wore to her daughter’s dance recital on the night she was killed.

But on Thursday, a defense attorney confronted Kaelin with his testimony to a grand jury last summer in which he gave a very different account of the defendant’s demeanor when discussing the dress.

Defense attorney Robert Shapiro had Kaelin read from a transcript of his grand jury testimony in which he described Simpson as talking “goodnaturedly” and “joking” when he said Nicole would not be able to wear such clothes when she was a grandmother.

“Is that the testimony you gave?” Shapiro asked Kaelin Thursday.

“Yes,” Kaelin replied.

Although he is a witness for the prosecution, Kaelin also came under fire from Clark when he admitted he had failed to tell her about a Christmas Eve domestic dispute between O.J. and Nicole Simpson.

“Did you tell me about the Christmas Eve argument?” Clark said, questioning him about his earlier grand jury statements.

“No, I did not,” Kaelin replied nervously, adding, “Can I say something?”

When Clark told him he could, Kaelin offered a response that was typical of the explanations he has given from the stand.

“When this was going on with the grand jury and everything was happening, there would be nothing I would hide from you,” he said. “I would have told you about a 911 call and all that sort of thing, but it wasn’t something I wasn’t trying to not tell you.” The argument in question took place after a party on Christmas Eve 1993.

The presence of a boyfriend of Nicole Simpson’s at the party and the delivery of flowers from a girlfriend of Simpson’s set off the battle that continued in front of Kaelin and the Simpson children as the family drove home.

“It subsided,” Kaelin said, only after they considered that it was Christmas Eve and that their children were in the car.

“There was no talking,” Kaelin said, describing the Christmas dinner that followed at the Simpson house.

Clark also pressed Kaelin on the way in which Simpson sought to pressure him into refusing an offer from Nicole to become a rent-paying tenant in her condominium on Bundy Drive in Brentwood.

“Did he tell you he was afraid you were going to have sex with Nicole?” Clark asked, suggesting that Simpson’s possessive nature led him to suspect Kaelin’s relationship with his wife would not remain platonic.

“No,” Kaelin replied.

But when Clark persisted, Kaelin waffled.

“I mean, it could have been, I don’t know, but he didn’t say because you’re going to have, um, sex,” Kaelin said.

Kaelin said Simpson told him it was “not right” for him to move in with Nicole Simpson even though Kaelin would have had a bedroom on a separate floor. Simpson then reportedly offered Kaelin free guest quarters at his Rockingham Avenue estate.

Simpson has denied charges that he murdered his ex-wife Nicole, 35, and her friend Ronald Goldman, 25, on June 12, 1994.