Ito's Wife Becomes Part Of O.J. Simpson Case -- A Police Captain, She Will Testify Before Another Judge

LOS ANGELES - O.J. Simpson's defense team will once again try to poke into a detective's past, and the star witness may be the judge's wife.

Capt. Peggy York, wife of Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, has agreed to appear at a hearing Monday before a different judge to explore whether she had a role in an internal investigation of Detective Mark Fuhrman when they worked at the same station.

The hearing marks the latest defense attack on the credibility of Fuhrman, who says he found a bloody glove behind Simpson's guest house the morning after the murders of Simpson's ex-wife and her friend. Police say a matching glove was found near the bodies.

The defense has suggested Fuhrman, who is white, is a racist who may have planted the glove.

Law professor Stanley Goldman of Loyola University said the hearing is probably a publicity ploy by the defense, "just another attempt to beat up on Mark Fuhrman."

He said it is unlikely that Superior Court Judge Curtis Rappe, who will preside over the hearing, will allow York to testify, on the grounds it would be irrelevant. Goldman noted that Ito has rejected a defense request to go through Fuhrman's personnel files.

Defense attorney Robert Shapiro said York "may have been involved in an investigation of Mark Fuhrman." He quickly added, "The emphasis is on the word `may.' "

Shapiro said the defense isn't attempting to disqualify Ito from the case but instead will explore "how much we'll be able to ask Detective Fuhrman" when he testifies at the trial. He also said he needs to determine whether York might be a trial witness.

York was unavailable for comment. Police spokesman Lt. John Dunkin would only say that York was not subpoenaed and was watch commander at the station where Fuhrman worked in 1985-86.

Simpson is charged with murder in the June 12 knife slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Opening statements aren't expected until mid-January.

Attorneys are choosing 15 alternates for the 12-person jury that already has been chosen. Jury selection was to resume today.

Four of six people questioned yesterday were kept in the pool, bringing the number of potential alternates that have been retained to 22.

The announcement of the hearing momentarily shifted the spotlight from one member of the Ito household to another. Ito became the focus of news coverage this week after a local TV station began broadcasting his five-part interview.

Legal observers say the interview is unusual, though not unethical. Ito has relentlessly criticized the coverage of the case.

Ito expressed regret about the interview yesterday during questioning of an alternate jury prospect who saw a full-page newspaper ad promoting the KCBS-TV interview. She was kept in the jury pool.

"I kind of flipped the page quickly," said the woman, who is under orders to avoid media coverage of the case.

"So did I," the judge responded. "If I had known that they were going to do that, I wouldn't have done" the interview.