Both sides in the O.J. Simpson trial spent Sunday preparing to question a star witness in the case - a Salvadoran housekeeper who could provide a possible alibi for the celebrity murder defendant.
Rosa Lopez, whose reluctance to testify had thrown the sensational trial into disarray, was due to take the witness stand for the defense Monday in what legal experts say could be a dramatic session filled with contradictions and inconsistencies.Lopez, who has already been branded a liar by Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden, is sure to be attacked at length by prosecutors who are seeking to discredit her testimony and turn it to their advantage.
But Lopez is not the only witness who will testify under a cloud of suspicion. Detective Mark Fuhr-man, a controversial Simpson case investigator who could be in court as early as this week, is facing new allegations of racism and sexism, Newsweek magazine reported in its latest edition.
The magazine said it uncovered the new allegations against Fuhr-man during a review of Los Angeles Police Department Internal Affairs records between 1984 and 1988.
It said Fuhrman has denied these and other charges.
Newsweek said that at an administrative board hearing in 1984 and 1985, Tia Morris, a black policewoman, identified Fuhrman as the leader of a cop clique called Men Against Women and of a group that went by the acronym WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Policemen).
Morris, now a detective who outranks Fuhrman, testified that Fuhrman told her she did not belong on the force and suggested she become a secretary or a "dancer on `Soul Train.' "
Newsweek also said the records between 1984 and 1988 showed that four people, three of them blacks, filed disciplinary complaints against Fuhrman.
One complaint which was sustained was brought by a black teenager named Jarvis Bowers who said Fuhrman stopped him for jaywalking and put him in a choke hold. Fuhrman was docked a day's pay.
Newsweek said it also learned that during a recess in the Simpson trial last week, a small team of attorneys staged a mock cross-examination of Fuhrman, who did not fare well.
"A source close to the prosecution said Fuhrman came across as a `difficult and troubled witness,' and that he became `defensive and agitated,' " Newsweek reported.