SAN FRANCISCO — In a case that could affect the admissibility of DNA evidence in the O.J. Simpson trial, the California Supreme Court began deliberating Tuesday whether to give trial judges greater flexibility to allow scientific evidence at trial.

The high court, hearing arguments in a Huntington Beach drunk driving case, has been asked by California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to broaden the state's evidence rules to allow controversial DNA testing. Now, scientific evidence can be admitted if it is generally accepted by the scientific community.

Members of the court provided little insight into their thinking on the DNA issue, dwelling largely on questions about a common field sobriety test in which police officers check the eye movements of suspected drunk drivers.

The drunk driving case comes before the court on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court decision adopting the broad standard advocated by Lungren that would give trial judges more discretion in the kinds of scientific evidence they admit.

But some prosecutors--as well as public defenders and corporate defense attorneys--worry that such a standard would open the door for all kinds of "junk science" that could be difficult for trial judges to sort out.

"There's absolutely no need to put trial judges in the position of being scientists," said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Brentford Ferreira, who joined Orange County prosecutors in arguing the Huntington Beach case before the Supreme Court.

The case before the court stems from the December, 1990, arrest of William Michael Leahy for allegedly speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol on Pacific Coast Highway.

According to evidence presented at his trial in Orange County Municipal Court, Leahy smelled of alcohol and spoke with a thick tongue when an officer pulled him over.

Leahy passed some sobriety tests administered by the arresting officer, including walking in a straight line and standing on one leg. But he failed a test called the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, in which an officer observes whether the eye moves smoothly as it tracks an object, such as a pencil, to the side.

A blood test 90 minutes later showed Leahy's blood alcohol to be 0.1%, which exceeds the legal limit, but his attorney argued that the level rose after the arrest because of a drink the motorist consumed five minutes before he was arrested.