O.J.'S FRIEND WON'T FACE ARREST

O.J. Simpson pal Al Cowlings, who drove the football star on his odyssey through the L.A. Basin before O.J.'s arrest on June 17, will not be charged, L.A. officials declared. But he still has to appear in court Friday. Also today, a Baltimore lab began DNA tests on the blood samples gathered at O.J. Simpson's estate and at the scene where his wife and her friend were murdered. Despite last-minute wrangling over a judge's decision, O.J. Simpson's attorneys agreed to accept only a small percentage of the prosecution's blood samples to test on their own. This morning the defense sent its expert, Dr. Henry Lee, to the lab.