O.J. DEFENSE WITNESS CHALLENGED

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden forced a key defense witness to admit that she had lied on the witness stand about making a plane reservation to leave the country this weekend. Rosa Maria Lopez, a former housekeeper for a neighbor of O.J. Simpson, was expected to testify that Simpson's Bronco was parked at his home at the time the double-murder was committed. On the stand, Lopez first told the court that she had made a reservation to go to her native El Salvador because her private life has been severely disrupted as a result of harrassment by reporters. When Darden said that prosecutors had called the airline and established that there was no reservation, Lopez admitted that she had not made the reservations. Lopez was ordered to appear in court, without the jury present, in order to establish her travel intentions. The defense wants to videotape her testimony and play it back for the jury at a later date. The prosecution contends that this is just a ploy by the defense to keep Lopez away from the jury.