THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Shapiro Is Fined $500 for Violating Order

Defense attorney Robert L. Shapiro was fined $500 Thursday for violating a court order that prohibits lawyers in the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial from giving interviews in the hallway outside Judge Lance A. Ito’s courtroom.

Shapiro could have gotten away with half that amount, according to a ruling by Supervising Judge James Bascue, had he not at first sought to fight the constitutionality of the order, issued last September shortly before jury selection began in the Simpson case.

The lawyer has since given up that battle because “no one seemed to be interested in the 1st Amendment issue except me,” Shapiro said Thursday.

He acknowledged that on Aug. 10 he discussed with reporters “for all of 90 seconds” a subpoena that had been issued to Laura Hart McKinny to force her to turn over to Simpson’s defense team the infamous tapes she made with now-retired Detective Mark Fuhrman.

Bascue called Shapiro’s turnaround “belated and conciliatory,” but fined him $500 anyway because a county lawyer who normally charges agencies $150 an hour for his work had devoted time to the matter.

Shapiro could have been fined as much as $1,500.