Mike Levin - 6196753763
2024-06-09 08:38:42 UTC
LOS ANGELES (AP) â Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman who was
convicted of lying on the witness stand in the O.J. Simpson trial three
decades ago, is now barred from law enforcement under a California police
reform law meant to strip the badges of police officers who act criminally
or with bias.
Fuhrman, who is white, 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. The slayings and Simpson's
trial exposed divisions on race and policing in America.
Fuhrman reported finding a bloody glove at Simpsonâs home but his
credibility came under withering attack during the trial as the defense
raised the prospect of racial bias.
Under cross-examination, Fuhrman testified that he had never made anti-Black
racial slurs over the previous 10 years, but a recording made by an aspiring
screenwriter showed he had done so repeatedly.
Fuhrman retired from the LAPD after Simpsonâs 1995 acquittal and at age 72
his return was doubtful. The decertification was likely meant to make clear
that California will not tolerate such officers.
The former detective was charged with perjury and pleaded no contest in
1996. He went on to become a TV and radio commentator and wrote the book
âMurder in Brentwoodâ about the killings.
Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a separate civil case, and
then served nine years in prison on unrelated charges. He died in Las Vegas
of prostate cancer in April at the age of 76.
Fuhrman declined to comment Friday when reached by phone.
âThat was 30 years ago. You guys are really up to speed,â he told an
Associated Press reporter.
When told that The San Francisco Chronicle had reported that his
decertification became formal in May, he replied "good for them, have a nice
day,â before hanging up.
The California decertification law was passed in 2021 in the wake of the
2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and took effect in 2023.
The law came 18 years after lawmakers stripped that power from a state
police standards commission. That left it to local agencies to decide if
officers should be fired, but critics said they could often simply get a job
in a different department.
Online records show that the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training decertified Fuhrman on May 14 based on a government code that
includes ineligibility based on a prior felony conviction. Roughly 100
officers have been decertified since 2023.
The records show Fuhrman was last employed by the LAPD in 1995. The police
department on Friday said it did not have information on retired detectives.
The record did not specify whether Fuhrman had any convictions besides the
perjury and a spokesperson for the agency said she did not have additional
information available Friday.
Fuhrmanâs decertification was first reported Friday by The San Francisco
Chronicle.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/mark-fuhrman-peace-officer-
decertify-19500216.php
convicted of lying on the witness stand in the O.J. Simpson trial three
decades ago, is now barred from law enforcement under a California police
reform law meant to strip the badges of police officers who act criminally
or with bias.
Fuhrman, who is white, 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. The slayings and Simpson's
trial exposed divisions on race and policing in America.
Fuhrman reported finding a bloody glove at Simpsonâs home but his
credibility came under withering attack during the trial as the defense
raised the prospect of racial bias.
Under cross-examination, Fuhrman testified that he had never made anti-Black
racial slurs over the previous 10 years, but a recording made by an aspiring
screenwriter showed he had done so repeatedly.
Fuhrman retired from the LAPD after Simpsonâs 1995 acquittal and at age 72
his return was doubtful. The decertification was likely meant to make clear
that California will not tolerate such officers.
The former detective was charged with perjury and pleaded no contest in
1996. He went on to become a TV and radio commentator and wrote the book
âMurder in Brentwoodâ about the killings.
Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a separate civil case, and
then served nine years in prison on unrelated charges. He died in Las Vegas
of prostate cancer in April at the age of 76.
Fuhrman declined to comment Friday when reached by phone.
âThat was 30 years ago. You guys are really up to speed,â he told an
Associated Press reporter.
When told that The San Francisco Chronicle had reported that his
decertification became formal in May, he replied "good for them, have a nice
day,â before hanging up.
The California decertification law was passed in 2021 in the wake of the
2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and took effect in 2023.
The law came 18 years after lawmakers stripped that power from a state
police standards commission. That left it to local agencies to decide if
officers should be fired, but critics said they could often simply get a job
in a different department.
Online records show that the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training decertified Fuhrman on May 14 based on a government code that
includes ineligibility based on a prior felony conviction. Roughly 100
officers have been decertified since 2023.
The records show Fuhrman was last employed by the LAPD in 1995. The police
department on Friday said it did not have information on retired detectives.
The record did not specify whether Fuhrman had any convictions besides the
perjury and a spokesperson for the agency said she did not have additional
information available Friday.
Fuhrmanâs decertification was first reported Friday by The San Francisco
Chronicle.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/mark-fuhrman-peace-officer-
decertify-19500216.php