As one of the lead detectives in the case, Fuhrman discovered a bloody glove at Simpson’s Brentwood estate that prosecutors argued linked Simpson to the murders.
KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho — Former Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman, whose testimony and conduct became a flashpoint in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, has died at the age of 74.
Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. As one of the lead detectives in the case, Fuhrman discovered a bloody glove at Simpson’s Brentwood estate that prosecutors argued linked Simpson to the murders.
However, Fuhrman’s credibility collapsed during the nationally televised trial after defense attorneys introduced recordings in which he repeatedly used racist language, contradicting his sworn testimony that he had not used racial slurs in the previous decade. Simpson’s legal team argued the evidence may have been tainted by racial bias, helping fuel reasonable doubt among jurors.
Fuhrman later pleaded no contest to felony perjury for lying on the witness stand, becoming the only person criminally convicted in connection with the Simpson trial.
Fuhrman retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after Simpson’s 1995 acquittal. He subsequently moved to Idaho with his family and set up a 20-acre farm, raising chickens, goats, sheep and llamas.
In 1996, Fuhrman was charged with perjury and pleaded no contest. He later became a TV and radio commentator and wrote the book “Murder in Brentwood” about the killings.
Lynn Acebedo, the chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County, Idaho, said that Fuhrman died May 12. The county does not release the cause of death as a rule. TMZ and Deadline reported he died after battling cancer.
Alan Dershowitz, a prominent lawyer and law professor who was a legal strategist on Simpson’s defense “Dream Team,” said Fuhrman was a “much better detective than he was a witness.”
“He’s very smart, and you know, a very, very aggressive detective. Ultimately his actions helped us win the O.J. case because of his use of the ‘n’ word,” Dershowitz said Monday evening. “I got to know him later, after it was all over, and we had a cordial relationship.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.