Trial Highlights

Some of the key events Monday in the O.J. Simpson murder trial:

* SUMMARY: Five days after his opening statement was interrupted by a furious debate over late disclosure of defense witnesses, Simpson lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. finally completed it Monday. But Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito told jurors that Simpson’s defense counsel had broken the law by failing to turn over details about some witnesses, and prosecutors won the right to reopen their opening statements briefly.

* SURPRISES: Outside the presence of the jury, prosecutors said they had uncovered damaging information about two potentially important defense witnesses. They also accused Cochran of misrepresenting blood test results during his opening statement. Sources also gave The Times the list of initial prosecution witnesses, who will focus on the issue of domestic violence. Included on the list are one of Nicole Brown Simpson’s sisters, a former boyfriend and a former police officer who worked for Simpson.

* COMING UP: Prosecutors will be allowed to reopen their opening statement today, after which they will begin calling witnesses. Their first witnesses are expected to describe a 1989 incident in which, Simpson’s lawyers acknowledge, he struck and slapped his wife.

“This careless, slipshod and negligent collection and handling and processing of samples by basically poorly trained personnel from LAPD has contaminated, compromised and corrupted the DNA evidence in this case.”

--Simpson trial lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.