O.J. DEFENSE DROPS THE OTHER SHOE

After yesterday's testimony by a DNA expert that the blood found on O.J. Simpson's sock had to be Nicole Brown Simpson's, the defense had to come up with something pretty big to counter. After a morning of slow and largely ineffective cross examination in which the defense repeatedly tried to show blood evidence in the case had been handled improperly and was useless, attorney Peter Neufeld dropped his bomb. Noting that some DNA found on the steering wheel of O.J.'s Bronco was not from Simpson, Nicole or Ron Goldman, Neufeld asked the jury to believe that a police officer may have killed the two, and that the unidentified trace of blood belonged to the killer cop. Says TIME Los Angeles correspondent James Willwerth. "It's an outrageous assertion, and not very believable, but the timing means that the jury will have all weekend to think about it." Ito instructed the jurors to disregard Neufeld's speculations.