Defense to reveal its `surprise witness' // She'll testify Fuhrman used slurs in

  1986

  Sally Ann Stewart

  03/13/1995

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 02A

  (Copyright 1995)

  LOS ANGELES - Police Detective Mark Fuhrman resumes testimony at the O.J.

  Simpson murder trial trial, in a week already shaping up as one with many

  surprises.

  First up: Fuhrman is expected to provide answers to the case's latest cliff-hanger.

  On Friday, prosecutor Marcia Clark broke off her questioning of Fuhrman just

  after he unwrapped three pieces of evidence - a shovel and a 3-by-5-foot plastic

  bag found in Simpson's Bronco and a splinter of wood fencing found beside it.

  Later, Fuhrman is expected to describe how he found the bloody glove behind

  Simpson's guest house hours after the killings of Simpson's ex-wife Nicole

  Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman last June 12.

  Prosecutors have said the brown leather glove matches one found at the murder

  scene. Preliminary DNA tests found the blood was consistent with that of both

  victims and Simpson, and fibers on the glove matched those of the carpet in

  Simpson's Bronco, prosecutors said.

  Also ahead:

  -- Defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey could begin cross-examination of Fuhrman

  today. His goal: To show that Fuhrman is a racist who planted the glove. And he

  has a surprise defense witness to offer.

  The witness, Andrea Terry, is a friend of Kathleen Bell, who the defense has said

  will testify that Fuhrman made racist remarks while visiting a Marine recruiting

  station in Redondo Beach in 1985 or 1986. Bell said the remarks centered on

  how Fuhrman would stop cars carrying interracial couples.

  Terry says she met Fuhrman in an Orange County restaurant in 1986, and he

  used racial epithets. Prosecutor Shari Lewis called Terry a "mystery witness."

  Defense lawyers say they gave prosecutors a copy of her sworn statement a week

  ago.

  "If the defense can prove that Fuhrman is a bigot, (jurors) will adopt an attitude

  that says, `Fuhrman's not credible to me," says criminal defense lawyer Donald

  Wager.

  -- In a surprise move, the defense expects to file a motion today asking Judge

  Lance Ito to reconsider the penalties against them for not sharing with

  prosecutors a tape-recorded statement by witness Rosa Lopez, who says she saw

  Simpson's Bronco parked outside his home at the time prosecutors contend

  Nicole Simpson and Goldman were slain.

  Lopez, formerly a housekeeper to Simpson's neighbor, was allowed to testify out

  of turn when she threatened to leave the country. Her testimony was videotaped

  without the jury in the courtroom. The defense can choose whether to use her

  testimony in presenting its case.

  Ito had ruled that if the defense tries to introduce Lopez's testimony, he'll tell

  jurors defense lawyers violated state laws requiring disclosure of evidence "in

  reckless disregard for the truth."

  The defense motion says Ito's language is too strong because neither defense

  lawyers Johnnie Cochran Jr. nor Carl Douglas were aware of Lopez's recorded

  statement to defense investigator William Pavelic.

  But Cochran and Douglas will not challenge the $950 fine for failing to reveal

  the taped statement.

  Fuhrman's allies have a surprise of their own: A Los Angeles County deputy

  district attorney who says Fuhrman "is not a guy to get people because of their

  color."

  According to a report in this week's Time magazine, prosecutor Danette Meyers,

  who's black, says Fuhrman argued successfully that black University of Southern

  California football players convicted of a kidnapping and a string of robberies

  and beatings deserved leniency.

  Meyers agreed to let the players plea-bargain for 15-year prison sentences.

  "Without Mark (Fuhrman) they would have gone away for life," Meyers says.

  The list of surprises has legal analysts hopping.

  "Not only is this week not going to be a quiet week, but it's going to be one of

  the most dramatic weeks in a series of dramatic weeks," says University of

  Southern California law professor Erwin Chemerinsky. "F. Lee Bailey

  cross-examining Mark Fuhrman is going to be one of the most pivotal events in

  this trial." Contributing: Jonathan T. Lovitt

  PHOTO,b/w,Pool photo by Nick Ut; PHOTO,b/w,Pool photo by Sam Mircovich