THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Shapiro Denies New Rift on Defense Team : Attorneys: He says he is not breaking with colleagues and defends wearing pin to show support for the LAPD.

The architect of O.J. Simpson’s defense team denied speculation that he is preparing to quit and defended his decision to wear a pin signaling support for the Los Angeles Police Department--a move that astounded other team members.

In an interview late Monday night, Robert L. Shapiro accused some trial watchers of misinterpreting comments he made on the issue of race in the trial and emphasized that he has no intention of leaving the team.

“That is just ridiculous. . . . I don’t know where they come up with this,” Shapiro said in the interview. “I committed to O.J. Simpson 100%. I’m in this to the end.”

Shapiro’s latest comments come after an unusual public statement by the attorney last week. Outside court, Shapiro reiterated his regret that race had become an issue in the trial, noting he had long hoped it would not surface.

“My preference was that race was not an issue in this case and should not be an issue in this case,” Shapiro said at that time.

Shapiro’s colleagues on the defense team were angered by those remarks, and some observers interpreted them as suggesting a renewed rift within the team. A few analysts suggested that Shapiro might be signaling his intention to leave the highly touted legal group that he brought together last year.

Other members of Simpson’s defense team have expressed deep frustration with Shapiro, and recently have described relations among the lawyers as volatile.

From the time he joined the team last summer, attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. has steadily grown in importance, supplanting the other lawyers as the lead trial counsel and occasionally clashing with Shapiro over trial strategy and other issues related to the case. In addition, Shapiro and F. Lee Bailey engaged in a testy public dispute earlier this year, forcing Cochran to step in and mediate on the eve of opening statements.

After Cochran’s intervention, the three lawyers proclaimed their willingness to work together, and Shapiro publicly bestowed the title of lead trial counsel on Cochran.

Given that history of squabbling, Shapiro’s comments about race fueled speculation that he was again trying to distance himself from Bailey, who had just concluded his racially charged and poorly received cross-examination of Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman.

But Shapiro insisted Monday night that his comments were not directed at Bailey or Bailey’s questioning of Fuhrman.

“I was not talking about the Fuhrman cross,” Shapiro said. “I just was saying that I wished race had not become an issue in this case. That’s always been my feeling. It’s not a change in position. It’s been my position from Day 1.”

In the interview, Shapiro also defended and explained his decision to wear a blue ribbon pin--a symbol of loyalty to the Police Department devised by Councilwoman Laura Chick--during his cross-examination of a Los Angeles Police Department detective.

That apparent endorsement of the police--just a few days after defense lawyer Alan M. Dershowitz infuriated officers nationwide by stating that they are taught to lie on the witness stand--puzzled some observers and angered others.

“Those of us who have been wearing these blue ribbons see Shapiro put one on and wonder if he’s trying to stand on both sides of the line,” said Samantha Greenberg, a Brentwood woman who has helped distribute the pins in her neighborhood. “Is he really in support of the LAPD or is this a publicity thing with him? Or is he so at odds with the rest of the defense that this is an indication of that?”

Among those surprised by Shapiro wearing the pin were some of his colleagues on the defense team. They privately derided Shapiro for that at the same time that some of them belittled his cross-examination of Detective Philip L. Vannatter.

Shapiro, however, defended the pin, which was given to him by a police union board member. In the interview, he said he was uncomfortable with denouncing the work of the department generally even as the defense has criticized its handling of this case. He also praised police officers for their efforts to protect the lawyers as they come and go from court and said his criticism of the investigators in the Simpson case does not reflect a general dislike of police.

“Whether they did a good job or a bad job in any particular case has nothing to do with whether I support law enforcement,” said Shapiro, who wore the pin again Tuesday. “I’m not an anarchist.”