`REAL KILLER' IN COURT; PROSECUTION STUNS COSBY TRIAL, RESTS AFTER SILENT WITNESS.

Byline: Linda Deutsch Associated Press 

The prosecution abruptly rested its case in the Ennis Cosby murder trial Friday after a dramatic appearance by the man defense attorneys claim is the real killer.

Prosecutor Anne Ingalls had sheriff's deputies march Eli Zakaria into the courtroom in handcuffs and a jail jumpsuit. He said nothing but was told to stand only inches from the jury so that the panelists could get a good look at him.

He was then taken out of the courtroom.

``The people have no further witnesses,'' Ingalls announced without warning.

The defense told jurors in opening statements that Zakaria is the person depicted in a composite drawing of the killer. The prosecution claims the drawing is a match for defendant Mikail Markhasev, 19.

Jurors were left to draw their own conclusion, but it was clear that Markhasev and Zakaria do not resemble each other. Zakaria is stocky and round-faced; Markhasev is thin, with angular features.

The prosecution had listed Zakaria and his girlfriend, Sara Peters, on the witness list but never called them to testify. Police have said the two were in a car with Markhasev the night Cosby was shot to death in January 1997.

The prosecutor ended her case on only the fifth day of testimony, taking the defense by surprise. She called only 19 witnesses.

``I'm obviously floored by the events of the last five minutes,'' said public defender Henry Hall, who told the judge he was not ready to present witnesses Monday.

The judge gave him until Wednesday to get his witnesses together but said he would hold hearings Monday on who would be allowed to testify. Ingalls said she would object to some of the planned defense witnesses.

Moments before she brought Zakaria into court, Ingalls called a police detective who played for jurors an obscenity-laced tape of Markhasev and friend Michael Chang in which Chang, cooperating with police, tried to get Markhasev to make incriminating statements.

``They're talking about the Cosby thing,'' Chang says at one point, complaining that he is being harassed by police.

``I don't know anything about no Cosby thing,'' Markhasev is heard saying. ``I don't know what the (obscenity) you're talking about. What's Cosby got to do with this?''

On the tape, Markhasev hints that he is fearful the phone conversation is being recorded, telling Chang, ``What's wrong with you? You're talking from a work phone.''

Chang had suggested he was calling from his job although he actually was sitting in the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division.

At one point, Chang asks Markhasev whether he found ``the strap'' - a reference to a gun - and Markhasev responds that he found nothing. ``I never went back looking for it.''

He also complained that a friend of Chang was ``a rat'' who went to police - an apparent reference to trial witness Christopher So, who gave the most incriminating testimony against the defendant.

So said he heard Markhasev admit to shooting a African-American man as he, Chang and Markhasev unsuccessfully searched for a gun. A police search later initiated by So led to discovery of a gun wrapped in a knit cap. Expert witnesses testified that gun fired the fatal bullet and a single tiny hair was linked by DNA to Markhasev.

The taped conversation between Chang and Markhasev ends with Markhasev suggesting that Chang come and see him in person at his home because they needed to talk.

``You didn't do anything wrong,'' Markhasev says. ``What are you worried about? I didn't do anything wrong either. Everything's cool.''

Police Detective Michael Bercham testified that Markhasev was under surveillance March 12, 1997, at his home, which was surrounded by police officers.

He said Chang was brought to police headquarters and was instructed to make the call to his friend.

Chang was held in contempt earlier in the day for refusing to testify. He has indicated he is afraid of gang retaliation in prison.

Loyola University Law School Dean Laurie Levenson, who was in court Friday, said the prosecutor's move was a surprise because of the minimal evidence.

``If they said they had a mountain of evidence in the O.J. Simpson trial, this is a molehill,'' she said. ``It's a lot thinner than what people expect in a high-profile case.''

Levenson said the key pieces of evidence are a series of incriminating jailhouse letters said to be written by Markhasev, the tiny hair tied to Markhasev through DNA analysis, So's testimony and the tape of Markhasev's words.

``This is Markhasev vs. Markhasev,'' she said. ``If he had kept his mouth shut and his pen down he wouldn't be sitting in the courtroom.''

The prosecution's shooting scene witness, Cosby date Stephanie Crane, never identified Markhasev as the killer but did help police create the composite sketch.

So testified earlier Friday that a tabloid newspaper paid him $40,000 for interviews and promised him a $100,000 reward if his information led to Markhasev's conviction.