Current:Home > MarketsCalifornia law bars ex-LAPD officer Mark Fuhrman, who lied at OJ Simpson trial, from policing -GrowthInsight
California law bars ex-LAPD officer Mark Fuhrman, who lied at OJ Simpson trial, from policing
View
Date:2025-04-16 13:13:03
LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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 Simpson’s 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 Simpson’s 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 “Murder in Brentwood” 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.
“That was 30 years ago. You guys are really up to speed,” 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,” 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 did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
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.
Fuhrman’s decertification was first reported Friday by The San Francisco Chronicle.
__
Associated Press Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
veryGood! (9879)
Related
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Nebraska officer shoots man who allegedly drove at him; woman jumped from Jeep and was run over
- Missouri driver killed in crash involving car fleeing police
- Biden declares emergency over lead in water in US Virgin Islands
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- The Excerpt podcast: Israel and Hamas announce cease-fire deal
- How Travis Kelce Really Feels About His Nonsense Tweets Resurfacing on Social Media
- What is the longest-running sitcom? This show keeps the laughs coming... and coming
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Antoni Porowski and Kevin Harrington Break Up After 4 Years Together
Ranking
- $73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
- Germany and Italy agree on joint ‘action plan’ including energy, technology, climate protection
- Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS Just Launched Its Biggest Sale Ever: Keep Up Before Your Favorites Sell Out
- Gene Simmons is proud KISS 'did it our way' as band preps final two shows ever in New York
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Democrats who swept Moms For Liberty off school board fight superintendent’s $700,000 exit deal
- South Korea partially suspends inter-Korean agreement after North says it put spy satellite in orbit
- Kaley Cuoco Reveals Why Her Postpartum Fitness Routine Is Good For My Body and Heart
Recommendation
Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
Bob Vander Plaats, influential Iowa evangelical leader, endorses DeSantis
Patrick Mahomes can't throw the ball and catch the ball. Chiefs QB needs teammates to step up.
Snoop Dogg said he quit smoking, but it was a ruse. Here's why some experts aren't laughing.
The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
Finland erects barriers at border with Russia to control influx of migrants. The Kremlin objects
As some stores shrink windows for sending back items, these retailers have the best returns policies
Escaped inmate facing child sex charges in Tennessee captured in Florida