Simpson Team Plans to End Case by Aug. 3 : Trial: Cochran tells Ito, prosecutors of shortened defense in sidebar. Ice cream expert may be called to testify.

O.J. Simpson’s lead attorney, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., has told Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito that the defense will rest its case by the first week in August, earlier than the most recent estimates, according to a transcript released Friday.

Meanwhile, Simpson’s legal team met to plan the final stages of its case. Among the experts the defense may call is a specialist on dairy products, who will conduct meltdown rate tests on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

A melting cup of that brand was found on a staircase at Nicole Brown Simpson’s condo shortly after her bloody body and that of Ronald Lyle Goldman were discovered by neighbors early on June 13, 1994.

Officials at Oregon State University confirmed Friday that Simpson’s defense team has hired Floyd W. Bodyfelt, a nationally recognized ice cream expert, to perform tests on three flavors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream next week.

The defense lawyers hope the test results bolster their contention that police ignored evidence that could have better established the time of death of Simpson’s ex-wife and Goldman and suggest that the murders occurred closer to 11 p.m. than to 10 p.m. This would cast doubt on the possibility of Simpson having committed the murders, because he met a limousine driver shortly before 11.

Simpson has pleaded not guilty to the killings. His lawyers contend that he is the victim of sloppy police work, planted evidence and prosecutors who “rushed to judgment” by ignoring evidence that could have exonerated the former athlete. They have been stymied, however, by Ito’s refusal to allow certain defense theories to be presented to the jury and by restrictions on the testimony of some defense experts.

That has frustrated the defense and contributed to the paring down of its case.

When they opened their case July 10, Simpson’s lawyers estimated that they would take up to six weeks to present it. But on Thursday, Cochran told reporters the defense would rest by Aug. 7.

That same day, however, he shortened his estimate even more in a sidebar discussion with Ito and prosecutors. “I’m telling you I’m going to finish in another week and a half,” Cochran said. That would mean the defense would rest by Aug. 3, less than a month after it called its first witness.

Early in the case, defense lawyers cited the Los Angeles Police Department’s failure to photograph the melting cup of ice cream--acknowledged by Officer Robert Riske on cross-examination in February--as a sign of sloppy police work. They have not referred to it in some time. But on Friday, Bodyfelt’s hiring was reported in the Corvallis [Ore.] Gazette-Times.

According to Oregon State University spokesman Dave Stauth, Bodyfelt will attempt to replicate the conditions the night of the murders and determine the melting rate of three flavors found at Nicole Simpson’s condo--chocolate chip cookie dough, rain forest crunch and chocolate fudge. The tests are expected to be done at UCLA.

Bodyfelt, 56, is a professor of food science who has done work for Baskin-Robbins and Dreyer’s Ice Cream.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher A. Darden said of the pending tests: “It’s a waste of good ice cream.”

Loyola law professor Laurie Levenson predicted that prosecutors would object to the introduction of such results or to testimony by Bodyfelt unless they think it would make the defense look desperate.

“It is somewhat amazing that we’re halfway through the defense case and an expert is just starting to perform his tests,” Levenson said. “There also is a question about whether this is a legitimate area for expert testimony. Who’s to say that this man’s experiments are any more valid and any more scientific than the jurors watching ice cream melt in their dessert bowls?”

Moreover, she said, the defense “would have to put on foundational witnesses to establish what flavors were found in the house, how long they had been outside the refrigerator, what the ambient temperature was and whether Nicole left the ice cream out when she got home from the restaurant or re-froze it.

“We don’t know whether Nicole liked mushy ice cream or firm ice cream,” she said. “There are a multitude of unanswered questions about melting ice cream, maybe even more than there are about barking dogs.”