The most interesting thing about The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story is that it's telling the story of an event many of us remember. Sure, there’s a bit of artistic license, but it really proves just how much stranger the truth is than fiction. Recent episodes have introduced Los Angeles Police Department detective Mark Fuhrman, who became a key part of the O.J. Simpson trial, which ended with Simpson being found not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. But since the series only shows the events of the trial and not what came after it, you may be curious about what Mark Fuhrman is doing today.
Fuhrman shot to fame during the trial because he claimed that he found a bloody glove at the scene of Brown Simpson and Goldman’s murders. According to the New York Times, Fuhrman also claimed that he saw blood both in Simpson’s car and his house. It really seemed like a smoking gun for the prosecution, but, according to The Seattle Times, Fuhrman’s frequent use of racial epithets while on the force made it seem like he was prejudiced against black people, and Simpson’s defense attorneys suggested that he planted the glove in Brown Simpson’s condo. When Fuhrman was asked if his testimony was true and if he had planted any evidence during the trial, he evoked the fifth amendment, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, though he would later maintain that he did nothing wrong.
In 1996, Fuhrman plead no contest to perjury, which is not an admission of guilt, after previously entering two not guilty pleas, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. He had been charged for lying about using racial slurs during the Simpson trial, as recordings of him saying the n-word were played. He was sentenced to three years of probation and paid a $200 fine. In 2014, Fuhrman told the New York Daily News that his use of racial slurs in the recordings were "taken out of context."
As then California Attorney General Dan Lungren pointed out to the Chicago Tribune, pleading no contest to a felony made it impossible for Fuhrman to continue working as a California police officer. So in 1997, Fuhrman wrote a true-crime book about Brown Simpson’s and Goldman’s murders called, aptly, Murder In Brentwood. The first chapter of the book can be read from the New York Times, and in it Fuhrman explains why he plead no contest to the perjury charge despite maintaining his innocence. He also wrote, "I apologize for the pain I caused with my insensitive words. However, one thing I will not apologize for is my policework on the Simpson case. I did a good job; I did nothing wrong."
After the trial, Fuhrman was also an on-air consultant for ABC, CBS, and Court TV, and today, he serves as a forensics and crime expert for Fox News. He has also written other non-fiction books, including, Murder In Greenwich, Murder In Spokane, and Silent Witness, and according to his HarperCollins bio, currently lives in Idaho. While the Simpson trial did not portray Fuhrman in the best light (to put it mildly), he seems to have landed on his feet.
