Who was Mark Fuhrman? Former LAPD detective from OJ Simpson case dies at 78
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Los Angeles Police detective Mark Fuhrman listens to a question from defense attorney F. Lee Bailey 13 March 1995 Photograph: (AFP)
Mark Fuhrman, the former LAPD detective key to the 1994 OJ Simpson murder trial who was later convicted of perjury for lying about using racial slurs, has died at 78.
Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles Police Department detective whose name became inseparable from the sensational OJ Simpson murder trial, has died at the age of 78 after reportedly battling throat cancer. Fuhrman died on May 12 in Idaho, where he had been living, according to Kootenai County Chief Deputy Coroner Lynette Acebedo.
Multiple US media outlets, including Fox News, TMZ and The Hollywood Reporter, reported that he had been suffering from an aggressive form of throat cancer. The former detective rose to national prominence during the investigation into the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, a case that would become one of the most closely watched trials in American history. Fuhrman was among the officers who searched Simpson’s Brentwood estate and discovered a bloody glove that prosecutors later described as a crucial piece of evidence.
The glove later became central to the courtroom drama that unfolded during the 1995 trial. Prosecutor Christopher Darden famously asked Simpson to try on the glove before the jury. When the glove appeared too small, defence lawyer Johnnie Cochran delivered the line that became synonymous with the case: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”
Simpson was ultimately acquitted of the murders, but scrutiny soon shifted towards Fuhrman himself. During the trial, audio recordings surfaced in which Fuhrman used racist language and racial slurs, severely damaging his credibility. Simpson’s legal team argued that the detective may have planted evidence at the crime scene.
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Fuhrman had earlier denied under oath that he had used such language. In 1996, he pleaded no contest to perjury charges, becoming the only person connected to the Simpson trial convicted of a crime related to the proceedings, according to Fox News and The Hollywood Reporter.
