Sister-in-law tells of OJ's glazed look

OJ Simpson wore a "glazed-over, frightening" look at a school recital where his daughter was performing on the day his ex-wife, Nicole, was murdered, jurors heard yesterday. In highly-emotional testimony, Denise Brown, a 37-year-old former model and Nicole's sister, described Simpson's appearance at a school dance recital in west Los Angeles on 12 June last year - the day her sister Nicole and Ronald Goldman were stabbed todeath.

She told Los Angeles Superior Court that she noticed his odd expression when he greeted her parents shortly after arriving at the auditorium, where Sydney, his eight-year-old daughter by Nicole, was performing. He wore "a bizarre" and "far away" look, she said. "It was actually really kinda spooky. He just had a very different look about him. It wasn't like OJ just walking into the place and saying `hey, here I am' . . . it was more like glazed over, kind of frightening, dark eyes. It just didn't looklike the OJ that we knew."

Prosecutors are seeking to show that Simpson was obsessed with his ex-wife, and stabbed her and 25-year-old Ron Goldman to death - a crime which he denies.

Last night, after cross-examining Ms Brown closely about a drink problem she used to have, Simpson's lawyers produced a home video.

Taken as Simpson left the recital, it shows him smiling and laughing, hugging his six-year-old son, Justin, and kissing Denise Brown farewell.The defence argues that the video also shows Simpson wincing as his son leaps up at him. They have said one reason the former running back could not have committed the stabbings was that he was crippled by arthritis.