Mark Fuhrman, former LA police detective convicted of lying during OJ Simpson murder trial, has died

FILE - Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman shows the jury in the O.J. Simpson double murder trial evidence found in the white Bronco that prosecutors contend defendant O.J. Simpson drove the night his ex-wife and a friend were murdered, during testimony Friday, March 10, 1995, in Los Angeles. Prosecuting attorney Marcia Clark looks on. Simpson, the decorated football superstar and Hollywood actor who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but later found liable in a separate civil trial, has died. He was 76. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, Pool, File)(AP/Nick Ut)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) 鈥� Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who was convicted of lying during testimony at the murder trial, has died. He was 74.

Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. He reported finding a bloody glove at Simpson鈥檚 home but his credibility came under 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 in the past decade, but a recording showed he had done so repeatedly.

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.

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent lawyer and law professor who was a legal strategist on Simpson鈥檚 defense 鈥淒ream Team,鈥� said Fuhrman was a 鈥渕uch better detective than he was a witness.鈥�

鈥淗e鈥檚 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 鈥榥鈥� word,鈥� Dershowitz said Monday evening. 鈥淚 got to know him later, after it was all over, and we had a cordial relationship.鈥�

Fuhrman retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after Simpson鈥檚 1995 acquittal. He subsequently moved to Idaho with his family and set up a 20-acre (eight-hectare) 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 鈥淢urder in Brentwood鈥� about the killings.

A criminal-court jury found Simpson, a former star NFL running back and actor, of murder in 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to relatives of Brown . He served nine years in prison on unrelated charges and in 2024 at the age of 76.

Kato Kaelin, a friend of Brown who also testified in the murder trial, wrote in a post on X that he wanted to respectfully acknowledge Fuhrman’s death and that he hopes Fuhrman’s loved ones can find peace.

鈥淲hile we were never close personally, our lives were indelibly linked through our roles in the trial over thirty years ago. It was a deeply complex and painful chapter for everyone involved, but any loss of life is a time for reflection and solemnity,鈥� Kaelin wrote.

Fuhrman鈥檚 father left when he was 7 years old, and Fuhrman often cared for his younger brother while his mother worked. As an adult, he joined the Marines and then the Los Angeles Police Department.

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This story has been updated to correct the last name of Brown’s friend who testified in the murder trial. He is Kato Kaelin, not Kaitlin.

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Golden reported from Seattle.

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