Staunchly insisting she was "100 percent" truthful, a Salvadoran maid finally escaped the witness stand at O.J. Simpson's murder trial Friday, her composure unshaken but her alibi story badly undermined.
As a tired Rosa Lopez started to leave the courtroom after three grueling days of testimony, the judge said, "All right. Good luck, Mrs. Lopez. Thank you.""Thank you, sir," she said, bowing slightly. "You're very kind and I appreciate this."
Lopez is the only known defense witness who can place Simpson's Bronco outside his home at the time prosecutors contend he was killing his ex-wife and her friend two miles away. They say he drove the Bronco to and from the murder scene.
Lopez's determination to return to her native El Salvador disrupted the trial for a week and placed jurors on hold while attorneys argued about her and then questioned her extensively.
Superior Court Judge Lance Ito refused a prosecution bid to order the troublesome witness back to court later, and with that, she was whisked away.
One point of contention between the legal teams was a taped interview with Lopez that Simpson's attorneys failed to turn over to prosecutors.
Moments after court recessed for the weekend, Ito slapped $950 in fines on defense attorneys Johnnie Cochran Jr. and Carl Douglas for the late disclosure and falsely asserting the defense didn't have a tape of the interview.
In a strongly worded ruling, Ito also wrote that if the defense chooses to show jurors the videotape of Lopez's testimony, he would tell them the lawyers broke the law.
Lopez, pummeled one last time by prosecution cross-examination, insisted she had not been paid or promised anything for her testimony and was not expecting a financial windfall when she reaches El Salvador.