Mark Fuhrman in 1995. POO/AFP via Getty Images Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles Police detective who gained notoriety for his part in the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson, has died. He was 78.
Fuhrman had been living in Idaho at the time of his death. Lynette Acebedo, the chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County, Idaho, confirmed his death to multiple outlets, saying, “There will be no other information provided through this office.” TMZ reported that he died May 12 and that he’d been battling an aggressive form of throat cancer.
Fuhrman was the detective who found a bloody glove at Simpson’s Brentwood estate while investigating the murders of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman, outside Simpson’s home on June 12, 1994. That glove became a key piece of evidence in the 1995 trial.
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When prosecutor Christopher Darden asked Simpson, who was on trial for both murders, to try on the glove in court, it either didn’t fit or Simpson was intentionally manipulating his hands so that it wouldn’t fit, according to some experts. That led to defense attorney Johnnie Cochran uttering his now-famous phrase: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” Simpson was ultimately found not guilty.
During the trial, Fuhrman’s testimony was called into question, and after recordings of him making racist statements surfaced, his credibility also took a hit. He was convicted of perjury in 1996.
After he retired from the LAPD, he became a true crime author and a talk radio host.
In 2016, Furhman was featured in FX’s scripted series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, where he was portrayed by actor Steven Pasquale.
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