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Mark Fuhrman (born February 5, 1952) is a former
detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
of the
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
(LAPD). He is primarily known for his part in the investigation of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in the
O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a Criminal procedure, criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which former National Football League, NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitt ...
. In 1995, Fuhrman was called to testify regarding his discovery of evidence in the Simpson case, including a bloody glove recovered at Simpson's estate. During the trial, witnesses claimed that during the 1980s, Fuhrman frequently described
African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
with a racist epithet, claims he denied. In response, Simpson's defense team produced recorded interviews with Fuhrman and witnesses proved that he had repeatedly used racist language during those interviews. As a result, the defense claimed that Fuhrman had committed
perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
and was not a credible witness. The credibility of the prosecution has been cited as one reason Simpson was acquitted. The defense claimed that Fuhrman planted key evidence as part of a racially motivated plot against Simpson. When asked under oath (with the jury not present), Fuhrman declined to answer all questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right. These questions included whether he planted or manufactured evidence. Fuhrman retired from the LAPD in 1995. In 1996, he pleaded no contest to perjury for his false testimony related to his use of racial epithets. Fuhrman has claimed that he is not a racist and apologized for his use of racist language. Some of his former coworkers who are minorities have expressed support for him. Fuhrman maintains that he did not plant or manufacture evidence in the Simpson case, and Simpson's defense team did not present any evidence to contradict this claim. Since his retirement from the LAPD, Fuhrman has written
true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...
books and hosted
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...
.


Life before the O. J. Simpson murder trial

Fuhrman was born in Eatonville, Washington on February 5, 1952. He attended Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor, Washington. Fuhrman's parents divorced when he was seven years old, and his mother remarried briefly. In 1970, aged 18, he enlisted in the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...
, where he was trained as a machine gunner and military policeman. He served during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
era, although his service in the Vietnam theater was restricted to being assigned to the , an amphibious assault ship stationed offshore. Having attained the rank of sergeant, he was honorably discharged in 1975. After leaving the military, Fuhrman entered the Los Angeles Police Academy and graduated in 1975. In 1981, Fuhrman requested leave for
workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...
. During a psychiatric interview regarding this claim, Fuhrman expressed racist sentiments, stating that he stopped enjoying military service because of alleged insubordination from Mexican-Americans and African-Americans, whom he described as "
nigger In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...
s".An Incendiary Defense
''The New Yorker'', July 25, 1994; accessed March 6, 2016.
Fuhrman received workers' compensation and remained on paid leave until 1983. During this time, Fuhrman attempted to leave the police force permanently and receive a stress disability pension. In a 1982 psychiatric interview, he claimed that he had "tortur dsuspects and con edinternal affairs detectives", that he would choke suspects and break their arms and legs "if necessary", and that he had pounded suspects' faces to "mush". Fuhrman claimed that he was afraid he would kill someone if he were returned to street patrol. Although several psychiatrists recommended that he be removed from duty completely, and others recommended that he not be allowed to carry a gun, the City of Los Angeles argued that Fuhrman's statements were merely part of an elaborate ruse to win a pension. In 1983, Fuhrman lost his case, and a subsequent appeal to Superior Court was rejected; therefore, Fuhrman returned to active duty as a police officer. In 1985, Fuhrman responded to a domestic violence call between retired NFL football player O. J. Simpson and his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. In 1989, a statement by Fuhrman about this call resulted in Simpson's arrest for spousal abuse. Fuhrman was promoted to detective in 1989. In October 1994, he worked to prove the innocence of Arrick Harris, an African-American male who Fuhrman believed had been falsely implicated for murder. Fuhrman retired from the LAPD in early 1995, after serving as a police officer for 20 years.


Role in the O. J. Simpson murder trial


Background

During Simpson's and Brown's eight-year marriage, Simpson repeatedly physically abused her and threatened to kill her, leading her to call the police on several occasions. Fuhrman responded to one of these calls and encountered Brown hiding in her Mercedes as Simpson was trying to break the windshield with a baseball bat. In a 2016 interview with Ezra Edelman in '' O.J.: Made in America'', Fuhrman claimed that he twice asked Simpson to put the bat down, and when Simpson refused, Fuhrman got his baton out and threatened him with violence if he continued. Simpson then obeyed and apologized, and Fuhrman offered Brown the chance to press charges so he could arrest Simpson; when she declined, Fuhrman went away telling her, "It's your life." Brown and Ron Goldman were murdered outside Brown's Brentwood, Los Angeles, condominium on the night of June 12, 1994. Robert Riske and his partner were the first police officers on the scene in the early morning of June 13, and Riske found a bloody left-hand glove at the scene. At least 14 officers and supervisors, some of whom arrived on the scene before Fuhrman, reported seeing only one glove. Fuhrman and his superior, Ronald Phillips, were the first detectives to arrive; Fuhrman's partner, Brad Roberts, arrived later. Fuhrman was familiar with Simpson and Brown because of the 1985 domestic violence call. Fuhrman left Brown's condominium with Ronald Phillips and lead detectives Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter, and went to Simpson's Rockingham residence. At the Simpson residence, Fuhrman found a number of blood drops in and on a white
Ford Bronco The Ford Bronco is a model line of SUV, SUVs manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company, Ford. The first SUV model developed by the company, five generations of the Bronco were sold from the 1966 to 1996 model years. A sixth generation of ...
parked outside. Fuhrman then climbed over the wall of the property in order to let in the other detectives. They later testified that they entered Simpson's estate without a search warrant due to exigent circumstances – specifically, a concern that Simpson himself might have been harmed. In Simpson's guest house, detectives found Kato Kaelin, who told detectives that he had heard thumping sounds earlier in the night. An investigation of the property by Fuhrman produced a second bloody glove, which was later determined to be the right-hand mate of the glove found at the murder scene. The glove found on the Simpson estate, which – according to DNA testing – was soaked with the blood of both victims, was considered to be one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the prosecution. When Simpson was asked to put on the gloves during the trial, they appeared to be too small for him. The reasons for this have been debated. Simpson was arrested on June 17. On July 8, a preliminary hearing determined that there was sufficient evidence for Simpson to stand trial. On July 22, Simpson pleaded not guilty.


Defense team's strategy

In an article by Jeffrey Toobin in the July 25 issue of ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', the defense revealed that they planned to play "the race card". Specifically, Simpson's defense team alleged that Fuhrman planted the glove found at Simpson's estate as part of a racially motivated effort to frame Simpson for the murders. The article detailed Fuhrman's prior use of
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
language and claims of violence made during his 1981–1982 psychiatric interviews. Although Fuhrman's psychiatric reports were later ruled inadmissible in the case because they were determined to be too old to have direct relevance, the ''New Yorker'' article was published before jury selection was finalized or
jury sequestration Jury sequestration is the isolation of a jury to avoid accidental or deliberate tainting of the jury by exposing them to outside influence or information that is not admissible in court. In such cases, jurors are usually housed at a hotel, where t ...
had taken place. Potential jurors were asked how much exposure to the Simpson case they received from ''The New Yorker'' (among other media outlets) as part of the jury selection process. They were also asked their opinions of Fuhrman and other witnesses who had testified at the preliminary hearing. The trial began on January 24, 1995, and Fuhrman took the witness stand for the prosecution on March 9. During cross-examination on March 15, attorney F. Lee Bailey asked Fuhrman whether he had used the word "nigger" in the previous 10 years, to which Fuhrman replied that he had not. The defense tried to introduce witnesses and audiotape evidence to prove that Fuhrman had lied under oath, that he had a particular animus against interracial couples, that he had a history of perpetrating violence against African-Americans, and that he had a history of being willing to fabricate evidence or testimony. In accordance with the California Evidence Code, the prosecution sought to exclude this evidence by arguing that it was too inflammatory and could prejudice the predominantly black jury. Although they conceded that Fuhrman used racial epithets on the tape, the prosecution suggested that the remainder of the material was merely exaggerated "puffing and blowing". On August 31, Judge Lance Ito ruled that evidence could be introduced to prove that Fuhrman had lied about use of the word "nigger", but that claims of violence and police misconduct were inadmissible. On September 5, the defense produced multiple witnesses and audiotapes to establish that Fuhrman had used the word "nigger" within the last 10 years. The tape eventually resulted in a perjury charge against Fuhrman, to which he pleaded no contest. First, Laura Hart McKinny took the stand. Between 1985 and 1994, Fuhrman gave taped interviews to McKinny, a writer working on a screenplay about female police officers. Fuhrman was working as a consultant for McKinny on the understanding that he would be paid $10,000 if a movie were produced. The recordings contain 41 instances of the word "nigger" used as recently as 1988, including references in which Fuhrman claims to have perpetrated violence against African-Americans. In the recordings, he also says he thinks it is sometimes necessary to lie as a police officer and that he has given testimony about events he did not actually witness. After McKinny, witness Kathleen Bell testified. She had met Fuhrman at a Marine recruiting station in 1985 or 1986, where she claimed that he expressed animus against interracial couples and said, "If I had my way, all the niggers would be gathered together and burned." Next, witness Natalie Singer, whose roommate had dated Fuhrman around 1987, testified that Fuhrman had told her, "The only good nigger is a dead nigger." On the television show '' Leeza'', Singer later said that Fuhrman had also said, "Yeah, we work with niggers and gangs. You can take one of these niggers, drag 'em into the alley and beat the shit out of them and kick them. You can see them twitch. It really relieves your tension." However, Ito restricted her from giving her complete statement during the trial. Roderic Hodge then testified that while he was in police custody in 1987, Fuhrman had said to him, "I told you we would get you, nigger." Ultimately, the jury was allowed to hear only two excerpts from the Fuhrman tapes, which did not include the inflammatory violent content or material related to potential misconduct. Jurors heard Fuhrman say, "We have no niggers where I grew up", and "That's where niggers live." With the jury absent on September 6, the defense asked Fuhrman whether he had ever falsified police reports or planted or manufactured evidence in the Simpson case. Although he had earlier responded "No" when asked this question, this time, on his lawyer's advice, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. During his
closing argument A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party's counsel reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. A closing argument occurs after the presentation of evi ...
, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran called Fuhrman "a lying, perjuring, genocidal racist", likening him to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. He argued that Fuhrman had planted the bloody glove on Simpson's estate as part of a racially motivated plot against Simpson, which could be traced back to Fuhrman's first encounter with the interracial couple in 1985. Although there was no evidence to suggest that Fuhrman had planted the glove, his perjury about his use of the word "nigger" was widely seen as severely damaging the prosecution's credibility in front of the mostly black jury, especially in the wake of the
Rodney King Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was a Black American victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by Police officer, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high spe ...
trial, and has been cited as one of the main reasons Simpson was acquitted.


Aftermath

Fuhrman's words on the tapes resulted in his being widely condemned, including by the prosecution. His use of racial epithets and accusations that he had planted evidence became a focal point of the trial and attracted enormous media attention that for a time eclipsed coverage of the crime itself, such that Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, sarcastically told the media, "This is now the Fuhrman trial. It is not the trial of O. J. Simpson, the man accused of murdering my son and Nicole." After the trial, there was widespread pressure on Los Angeles County district attorney Gil Garcetti to bring perjury charges against Fuhrman. Garcetti initially refused, saying that Fuhrman's use of racist language was "not material to the case", a major element of proving perjury. As many members of Garcetti's office made public statements on the issue, Garcetti, citing the high emotions in his office about the case, opted to give the decision to prosecute to Dan Lungren, the
California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the government of California. The officer must ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section 13). The ...
, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. On July 5, 1996, Lungren announced that he would file perjury charges against Fuhrman and soon thereafter offered Fuhrman a
plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...
. On October 2, Fuhrman accepted the deal and pleaded no contest to the charges. He was sentenced to three years' probation and fined $200. Fuhrman is the only person to have been convicted of criminal charges related to the Simpson case. His probation ended early in 1998, and his felony charges were expunged 18 months later. In an October 1996 television interview with Diane Sawyer, Fuhrman said he did not plant evidence in the Simpson case. He said he is not a racist, and apologized for his use of racist language. He said he had forgotten about the existence of the audiotapes and that they were merely part of a misguided effort to have a fictional screenplay produced. A police investigation of the claims of violence on the tapes found that Fuhrman had grossly exaggerated,Los Angeles Police Report Says Fuhrman Overstated Brutal Exploits
''The New York Times'', May 6, 1997.
and many of his minority former coworkers have expressed support for Fuhrman and said they do not believe he is a racist. In his book '' Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder'', Vincent Bugliosi argues that planting the glove would have required a far-reaching and unlikely conspiracy between Fuhrman and other police officers. Anyone involved in such a conspiracy would have been risking their life, because Article 128 of the California Penal Code states that anyone who fabricates evidence in a
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
as the Brown and Goldman murder case might have can be sentenced to death themselves. Bugliosi further argues that Fuhrman was one of the victims in the case and that his lying under oath about racial epithets did not rise to the level of indictable perjury, because it was immaterial to the actual facts of the case.


Post-trial career


''Murder in Brentwood''

After retiring from the LAPD in early 1995, Fuhrman moved to
Sandpoint, Idaho Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 9,777 as of the 2022 United States census, census. Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest pr ...
. He wrote a book about the Simpson case, called ''Murder in Brentwood'' (1997, ), which includes a foreword by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor of the
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...
case. In the book, Fuhrman apologized for the racist remarks on the audiotapes, terming them "immature, irresponsible ramblings" made because of a desire to make money; he contends that the tapes were merely part of a screenplay. He argued that Lungren had charged him to garner black support for a planned campaign for
governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...
, in 1998. Despite being told that Lungren's case was "flimsy at best", Fuhrman said that he felt that he had no choice but to plead no contest. He claimed that he could not afford to mount an adequate defense; he already owed thousands of dollars in legal bills, and the city's Police Protective League would not help him pay them. He also claimed that he could not pay the living expenses for a trial that would take several months (or years, in case of an
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
). He also believed that he could not get a fair trial in the racially charged climate of the time, and he thought that an acquittal would have caused a riot which would have been similar to the
1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...
. He also wanted to protect his family from harassment by the press. Fuhrman has stated that he believes that the LAPD could have arrested Simpson on the afternoon of June 13, based on the blood evidence and his apparently contradictory statements during questioning; however, he believes that senior LAPD officials did not want to take a chance on being wrong about Simpson and they wanted to wait until the preliminary
gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
tic evidence came in. Fuhrman argues that several errors which were made by his LAPD colleagues permitted the defense team to allege that there was suspicious police conduct at Nicole Brown Simpson's residence. For instance, Fuhrman has claimed that the initial search warrant which was submitted by one of the detectives who was investigating the case, Phillip Vannatter, was too short and it did not include enough details regarding the
probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause is the legal standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal and for a court's issuing of a search warrant. One definition of the standar ...
and the evidence which was on hand at the time. Fuhrman has also argued that major pieces of evidence were mishandled and he also believes that his colleagues did not realize that their every move would be scrutinized in court due to the nature of the case. Fuhrman asserts that the police and the prosecution made other errors that reduced the chances of a guilty verdict. For example, Fuhrman and his partner, Brad Roberts, found a bloody
fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...
on the north walkway gate of Nicole Brown Simpson's house. According to Fuhrman, at least some of it belonged to the suspect, because there was enough blood at the scene to suggest that the suspect was bleeding. This piece of evidence was potentially critical; Simpson claimed that he'd cut himself on the night of the murders but he hadn't been to his ex-wife's house in a week. Had the fingerprint been tied to Simpson in any way, it could have been a crippling blow to his defense. It also could have contradicted the defense team's allegation that Fuhrman planted the glove, since Fuhrman did not know nor did he have a reason to know that it was Simpson's blood; however, the fingerprint was destroyed at some point and at trial, it was only mentioned superficially. In fact, Fuhrman later discovered that Vannatter and Lange did not even know that the fingerprint was there because they never read Fuhrman's notes. Roberts could have offered testimony that would have corroborated the existence of the fingerprint and several of Fuhrman's other observations, but the leading prosecutor Marcia Clark never asked him to testify. This rankled Fuhrman almost as much as Vannatter's and Lange's failure to read his notes; Fuhrman believed that Clark decided not to call Roberts to avoid embarrassing Vannatter on the stand. Fuhrman has said that he feels that the prosecution abandoned him once the tapes were made public. He said that he pleaded the Fifth Amendment after he could not get the prosecution to call him to the stand for a
redirect Redirect and its variants (e.g., redirection) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Redirect (album), ''Redirect'' (album), 2012 Christian metal album and its title track by Your Memorial * Redirected (film), ''Redirected'' (film), a 20 ...
prior to the playing of the tapes for the jury. Fuhrman has said that once the tapes came out, his reputation as a credible witness would have been nearly beyond rehabilitation. Fuhrman felt that Judge Lance Ito allowed the defense to control the trial. For instance, like Bugliosi, Fuhrman insists that relevant case law demanded that Ito foreclose the defense from asking him about racial slurs, since any potential relevance was outweighed by the prospect of prejudice against the prosecution's case. Fuhrman also asserts that Ito should have never been assigned to the case in the first place, because Ito was married to Margaret "Peggy" York, an LAPD captain who had been Fuhrman's superior officer in the past. In the Fuhrman tapes which were recorded by Laura McKinny, Fuhrman disparages York's appearance and he also suggests that she used her sex to advance her career in the police force. Fuhrman felt that Ito should have been challenged by the prosecution or he should have voluntarily recused himself from the case on that basis. Although the prosecutors had asked Ito to step down, they later withdrew their request out of fear that it would result in a
mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
.


Other books

For his next book, ''Murder in Greenwich'' (1998, ), Fuhrman investigated the then-unsolved 1975 murder of Martha Moxley and he theorized that the murderer was Michael Skakel, nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Skakel was convicted of Moxley's murder in June 2002, but later, his conviction was overturned. The book was adapted for a 2002 television movie starring Christopher Meloni as Fuhrman. In 2001, Fuhrman published ''Murder in Spokane: Catching a Serial Killer'' (), which investigated a serial killer's spree in
Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...
. In 2003, he published ''Death and Justice: An Exposé of Oklahoma's Death Row Machine'' (), critical of the state's handling of
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
cases. In 2005, Fuhrman published ''Silent Witness: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo's Death'' ( ), which emphasized gaps in the medical and legal records that might allow for the possibility that Schiavo was murdered. In 2006, Fuhrman published ''A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963'' (), about the John F. Kennedy's assassination. In it, Fuhrman advanced a theory challenging the single-bullet theory while still maintaining that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. He claimed that the
Warren Commission The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President of the United States, President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the A ...
was forced to ratify the single-bullet theory for political reasons. However, he said that a dent in the chrome above the windshield of the presidential limousine used that day vindicated the story told by John Connally that the first shot that hit President John F. Kennedy did not also hit him. In 2009, he published ''The Murder Business: How the Media Turns Crime Into Entertainment and Subverts Justice'' (), which addressed the fine line between crime reporting and entertainment.


Radio and television commentary

Fuhrman is a forensic and crime scene expert for
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
, and he has been a frequent guest of Fox commentator
Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...
. He was also the host of the ''Mark Fuhrman Show'' on KGA-AM in Spokane. The show covered local and national topics and included guest callers. The show ended after the sale of the station by Citadel Broadcasting Corp. of
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
to Mapleton Communications, LLC, of
Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
.


Personal life

Fuhrman has been married three times. He was a collector of various war
memorabilia A souvenir (French language, French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memory, memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collecte ...
and medals.


In popular culture

In '' Murder in Greenwich'', Fuhrman is portrayed by Christopher Meloni. In '' American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson'', Fuhrman is portrayed by Steven Pasquale. He was portrayed by Alexander Man in Joshua Newton's film '' Nicole & O.J.''. In '' Captain America: Civil War'', he is mentioned by character Sam Wilson. In ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...
'' he is described as a "hero cop" by Frank Reynolds, a character who frequently exhibits racist tendencies.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuhrman, Mark 1952 births Living people American police detectives Anti-black racism in California Los Angeles Police Department officers O. J. Simpson murder case People from Eatonville, Washington People from Gig Harbor, Washington People from Sandpoint, Idaho Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers American people of German descent