"And you did not agree with all the times that Mr. Pavelic said, correct?"

"Maybe he didn't understand me," she replied.

In a refrain disconcerting for the defense, Mrs. Lopez repeatedly pleaded a poor memory. At one point, she said she did not remember the time of day, month or even the season in which she met with Mr. Pavelic. By way of explanation, she said these events had happened long ago and she had not taken notes.

"Is that the only way you can remember dates and times is when they are written down?" Mr. Darden asked.

"No, sir," she replied.

When Mr. Darden was not challenging Mrs. Lopez's memory, he was suggesting that she was acting out of an animus for Mrs. Simpson, who had slapped another maid with whom Mrs. Lopez was friendly. Beyond that, he questioned her honesty about even the most basic things, including her stated name and age. He challenged her assertion that she had not met with defense lawyers over the weekend -- suggesting that she had, in fact, spent seven hours at the law office of Mr. Simpson's chief trial lawyer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., on Saturday afternoon.

At various times she said that she had seen Mr. Cochran -- "Mr. Johnnie" to her -- had not seen him and could not remember whether she had seen him.

Similarly, Mrs. Lopez alternately testified that she had not spoken to Mr. Cochran that day, but that when the two had spoken, they had not talked about her testimony. Instead, she said, Mr. Cochran told her what he always told her: to tell the truth. With that, Mr. Darden let out a loud and sarcastic "Hah!" for which Judge Lance A. Ito admonished him.

Earlier, Mr. Darden also reminded her that she had testified falsely about booking a flight to El Salvador, her home country.