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O.J. Defense Reveals It Withheld Audiotape State Has Witness To Contradict Alibi

The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)

February 28, 1995, Sunday, EARLY AND CITY EDITIONS

O.J. Defense Reveals It Withheld Audiotape State Has Witness To Contradict Alibi

BYLINE: MATT KRASNOWSKI and NORMA MEYER Copley News Service

SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 1

LENGTH: 792 words

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

A key witness for O.J. Simpson testified Monday she saw his Bronco at home about the time his ex-wife was killed, as a defense investigator stunned the court by revealing the existence of an audiotape that the defense said didn’t exist.

Speaking before a video camera and to an empty jury box, Rosa Lopez, the for-mer maid of Simpson’s neighbor, said she saw the Bronco while walking her em-ployer’s dog shortly after 10 p.m. on June 12. She said she recalled seeing Simpson’s car parked slightly askew from the curve.

“Were you able to see any cars parked out on Rockingham there?” defense law-yer Johnnie Cochran Jr. asked.

“Si. Yes,” said Lopez, who spoke through a Spanish interpreter.

“And what car did you see parked out there?” he inquired.

“El Bronco,” she replied.
After Lopez was excused for the day, a defense investigator jolted the court-room by acknowledging he had tape-recorded an undisclosed interview with Lopez last July. Hours earlier, defense attorney Carl Douglas repeatedly told Superior Court Judge Lance Ito that no interviews were recorded. Prosecutors contend the statement made no mention of the Bronco.

In another dramatic development, prosecutors produced a surprise witness, a housekeeper named Sylvia Guerra, who they claim can contradict Lopez’s account. Lopez and Guerra were ordered back to court today.

Under questioning by Cochran, Lopez said her employers were in Europe on June 12 and her main task that day was taking care of their golden retriever. She said she walked the dog at 8:15 p.m. and “shortly after” 10 p.m.

The time is critical for Simpson’s defense because prosecutors contend his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman, were killed around 10:15 p.m. about two miles away.

Lopez said she wasn’t wearing a watch on the night, but checked her bedroom clock every time she left her room to go outside.  Prosecutors are expected to seize on that point today in their cross-examination. Lopez in court didn’t have her glasses and could not read a monitor less than two feet away.  She had to borrow two different pairs of spectacles, one from defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey and another from her own attorney.
The former maid, however, appeared to have a detailed recollection of the events nine months ago.  She testified that about 9 p.m., she saw Simpson drive off in his black Bentley with a blonde-haired person.

Simpson house guest Brian “Kato” Kaelin has said he and the Hall of Famer went to get hamburgers at McDonalds about that time.

About 9:30 p.m., Lopez said she heard footsteps coming from Simpson’s drive-way, became frightened that it was a burglar and closed her drapes.  “I was really afraid,” Lopez said.  “I looked out and duckeddown.” After midnight, she said she heard men’s voices and Simpson’s black Akita dog howling and barking.

“It barked and cried,” she said, adding she did not fall asleep until 2 a.m.

Testimony during Simpson’s preliminary hearing indicated he had left his home in a limousine for a flight to Chicago about 11 p.m.

The next morning, Lopez said Detective Mark Fuhrman came to her door and she told him what she heard.  She said Fuhrman told her police would get back to her.

“I’m still waiting for them,” Lopez said.

The defense contends Fuhrman, who is expected to take the stand later this week, is a racist who planted the bloody glove at Simpson’s estate to frame.

Earlier Monday, Douglas told Ito there were no notes or taped interviews of Lopez to give prosecutors, after revealing the defense failed to turn over a July 28 statement with her as required under evidence laws.  Deputy District At-torney Marcia Clark told the judge that the July 28 interview varied considera-bly from an Aug. 18 statement Lopez made in which the Bronco was mentioned.

As the battle over the undisclosed interview heated up, prosecutors asked that defense investigator Bill Pavelic, who interviewed Lopez, be brought into court and put under oath.  Under questioning by Ito, Pavelic said he believed he had some notes about his conversations with Lopez.

“Do you have any tape recordings of any statements?” Ito asked.

“I tape recorded the first statement, which was the July statement,” Pavelic said.  Gasps filled the room.

“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to order you to come to court with those items, Ito said.
“I shall do my best to get those items,” Pavelic said.

“No, don’t do your best, have them here tomorrow,” an irked Ito said.

Before the revelation, Clark suggested the defense attorneys should be dis-barred for failing to turn over the statement.  She asked Ito to punish the de-fense in a number of ways, including admonishing jurors that Simpson’s attorneys had committed misconduct.

LOAD-DATE: March 1, 1995

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

TYPE: NEWS