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The sheer explosiveness of the tapes-and the depth of the prosecution's panic-was evident during a series of charged discussions with Ito about the tapes' admissibility. With the information that York is one target of Fuhrman's invective, Ito made an emotional acknowledgment that he could not remain impartial in the face of insults to his wife and would turn over those portions of the tapes to another judge. York, who as head of the L.A.P.D.'s internal-affairs department is now the highest-ranking female on the force, had sworn previously that she had no recollection of any dealings with Fuhrman. In the first flush of these revelations, the prosecution called for Ito to step down-then quickly reconsidered. Legal experts believe they may have raised the recusal issue in a desperate attempt to force a mistrial. On Friday, Judge John Reid ruled that York's role in the case is irrelevant; Ito will rule early this week on whether the tapes themselves may be heard in open court.
As one of the first officers on the Bundy crime scene last June and the finder of the bloody glove, Fuhrman has all along been a key-and an embattled-witness. While the defense sent its investigators across the country to turn over every rock they could find in a search for dirt on Fuhrman, the prosecution had long known that the cop, who has a record of instability and previous racial incidents, could weaken their case. In January, when a reporter asked a key prosecutor if Fuhrman was going to be a problem, the lawyer flashed an expression of pain, then smiled and said, "No comment." And Joseph Britton, an African American who was suing the city for use of excessive force by Fuhrman and other officers during an arrest following a 1987 robbery, received $100,000 from the city of Los Angeles to settle his case soon after it went to trial. According to Britton's lawyer Robert Deutsch, the city was eager to settle when it learned that the case, which could potentially have included an examination of Fuhrman's personnel records, was scheduled for trial during the Simpson proceedings in which Judge Ito had ruled those same records inadmissible. "There was clearly concern that the O.J. defense team might learn things from our trial that they couldn't get to otherwise," says Deutsch.
In spite of such problems, the prosecutors decided it would look suspicious to the jury if such a central witness did not testify, and that Fuhrman would be an articulate presence on the stand. Until the tapes were discovered, that gamble seemed to have paid off: Fuhrman appeared to have sustained little damage during his March cross-examination by F. Lee Bailey.