Daily News (New York)
March 1, 1995, Wednesday
BYLINE: By MICHELLE CARUSO in Los Angeles and JERE HESTER in New York
SECTION: News Pg. 8
LENGTH: 523 words
The credibility of O.J. Simpson's alibi witness crumbled yesterday as prosecutors charged her testimony was "coached" by the defense.
The latest challenge to Rosa Lopez came after the defense turned over an eight-month-old interview tape a recording that prosecutors said contains "many glaring inconsistencies" with her testimony.
"I have never heard a witness basically coached and told what to say through every bend and turn," said prosecutor Marcia Clark, after listening to the 15-minute tape in Judge Lance Ito's chambers.
The maid, who worked next door to Simpson, has reported seeing the football legend's white Ford Bronco outside his home about the time his ex-wife and her pal were slain on June 12.
But the tape highlighted contradictions in Lopez' statements, including:
She made no mention of seeing the Bronco around the time of the slayings on the July 29 tape and she reported hearing Simpson's voice at 10 p.m., Clark said.
She made no mention of her friend Sylvia Guerra on the tape, in an Aug. 18 statement or on the stand Monday.
But in a July 29 defense report purportedly based on the taped interview Lopez said that Guerra came over for coffee around 9 p.m., stayed for 10 or 15 minutes and made a remark about seeing Simpson's Bronco parked outside.
In the July 29 report, Lopez said she saw Simpson and a passenger drive away in his black Bentley between 8:30 and 9 p.m. In her Aug. 18 statement and on the witness stand she put the time at 9 p.m.
In another wrinkle, Lopez' testimony Monday that she saw the Bronco shortly after 10 p.m. leaves Simpson with a far from airtight alibi.
The defense's opening statement alleged that Lopez saw the vehicle at 10:15 p.m. the time prosecutors claim Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Lopez' hazier account could give the football legend time to make the six-minute drive to Nicole's condo.
The jury has not heard Lopez' account and Ito delayed resumption of her testimony until tomorrow to give prosecutors time to prepare their cross-examination.
The judge has ordered her testimony to be video-taped for future use because of fears the media-wary maid will flee to El Salvador.
A tearful Lopez pleaded with the judge to let her return to her homeland but reluctantly agreed to appear tomorrow.
"This is not my fault to work close to Mr. Simpson, to have seen and to have heard," she said through a translator.
Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran insisted that the tape doesn't punch holes in Lopez' credibility. "We think she is entirely consistent," he said.
And he angrily denied prosecution contentions that he concealed the tape. Simpson private eye Bill Pavelic claimed yesterday that he didn't tell defense attorneys that he had tape-recorded the interview until Monday.
Meanwhile, newly released transcripts of an in-chambers hearing indicated that Ito might dismiss a juror as soon as today for misconduct.
The "problem" juror is a 46-year-old black man who has worn items bearing the San Francisco 49ers logo the team with which Simpson ended his career.
He would be the fourth juror bounced.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
March 1, 1995, Wednesday
BYLINE: By MICHELLE CARUSO in Los Angeles and JERE HESTER in New York
SECTION: News Pg. 8
LENGTH: 523 words
The credibility of O.J. Simpson's alibi witness crumbled yesterday as prosecutors charged her testimony was "coached" by the defense.
The latest challenge to Rosa Lopez came after the defense turned over an eight-month-old interview tape a recording that prosecutors said contains "many glaring inconsistencies" with her testimony.
"I have never heard a witness basically coached and told what to say through every bend and turn," said prosecutor Marcia Clark, after listening to the 15-minute tape in Judge Lance Ito's chambers.
The maid, who worked next door to Simpson, has reported seeing the football legend's white Ford Bronco outside his home about the time his ex-wife and her pal were slain on June 12.
But the tape highlighted contradictions in Lopez' statements, including:
She made no mention of seeing the Bronco around the time of the slayings on the July 29 tape and she reported hearing Simpson's voice at 10 p.m., Clark said.
She made no mention of her friend Sylvia Guerra on the tape, in an Aug. 18 statement or on the stand Monday.
But in a July 29 defense report purportedly based on the taped interview Lopez said that Guerra came over for coffee around 9 p.m., stayed for 10 or 15 minutes and made a remark about seeing Simpson's Bronco parked outside.
In the July 29 report, Lopez said she saw Simpson and a passenger drive away in his black Bentley between 8:30 and 9 p.m. In her Aug. 18 statement and on the witness stand she put the time at 9 p.m.
In another wrinkle, Lopez' testimony Monday that she saw the Bronco shortly after 10 p.m. leaves Simpson with a far from airtight alibi.
The defense's opening statement alleged that Lopez saw the vehicle at 10:15 p.m. the time prosecutors claim Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Lopez' hazier account could give the football legend time to make the six-minute drive to Nicole's condo.
The jury has not heard Lopez' account and Ito delayed resumption of her testimony until tomorrow to give prosecutors time to prepare their cross-examination.
The judge has ordered her testimony to be video-taped for future use because of fears the media-wary maid will flee to El Salvador.
A tearful Lopez pleaded with the judge to let her return to her homeland but reluctantly agreed to appear tomorrow.
"This is not my fault to work close to Mr. Simpson, to have seen and to have heard," she said through a translator.
Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran insisted that the tape doesn't punch holes in Lopez' credibility. "We think she is entirely consistent," he said.
And he angrily denied prosecution contentions that he concealed the tape. Simpson private eye Bill Pavelic claimed yesterday that he didn't tell defense attorneys that he had tape-recorded the interview until Monday.
Meanwhile, newly released transcripts of an in-chambers hearing indicated that Ito might dismiss a juror as soon as today for misconduct.
The "problem" juror is a 46-year-old black man who has worn items bearing the San Francisco 49ers logo the team with which Simpson ended his career.
He would be the fourth juror bounced.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
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