Rosa López (witness)

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Rosa López was a housekeeper from El Salvador and a witness in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

The defense originally hoped that López' testimony would provide an alibi because she had reported having seen Simpson's Ford Bronco parked outside his estate in Rockingham around the approximate time of the murder (around 10:15 pm).

Asserting that she wanted to return her native El Salvador, the defense successfully petitioned to record her testimony on videotape during the prosecution's phase of the trial. She testified on February 27, 1995. However, during the actual testimony and cross-examination by Christopher Darden (during which she insisted on speaking in Spanish with a translator, despite some knowledge of English), the value of her testimony became less clear as she could not provide a definite time at which she saw the Bronco. Ultimately, the prosecution decided not to present her testimony to the jury despite many references in opening statements and the large interruption to the trial. Soon after her testimony, López returned to her native country.

In March, judge Lance Ito sanctioned Simpson lawyers Johnnie L. Cochran and Carl Douglas for failing to provide the defense with an audio recording of an interview with López made by an investigator hired by Simpson.

She was legally represented by Carl E. Jones.

[edit] Biography

López was from a family of ten children. At nine, she stopped school to her family on their small family. She had seven children, but only two survived to move to Los Angeles.