Nearly 30 years after he retired from the Los Angeles Police Department in the midst of OJ Simpson’s trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, Mark J. Fuhrman has been ruled ineligible to be certified s a law enforcement officer in California.
Fuhrman was a key witness in the trial, testifying about the discovery of evidence in the case — including the infamous bloody glove. But the defense introduced evidence that Fuhrman had regularly used racial epithets in his work as a police officer in the 1980s, as CrimeOnline reported. Fuhrman denied the allegations until recordings were produced.
A jury acquitted Simpson of the murders later in 1995, and Fuhrman pleaded no contest to perjury — related to his false testimony about his use of perjoratives against African Americans — the following year. Furhman continued to deny defense allegations that he planted evidence pointing to Simpson.
The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training’s decision to put Fuhrman on its list of ineligibles was based on that felony perjury conviction, the Los Angeles Times reported. State law forbids law enforcement agencies from hiring people with felonies on their records.
Fuhrman was one of 10 former LAPD officers and 17 former Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies declared ineligible in mid-May. Four other deputies and one LAPD officer had their certifications revoked.
Fourteen deputies and seven officers were given temporary suspension while court cases make their way through the system.
It’s not clear if Fuhrman has any interest in serving as a law enforcement officer again; he certainly hasn’t tried in the 29 years since he left the LAPD. Instead, he wrote crime books, hosted a radio show, and appeared as a commentator on television news shows.
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[Featured image: FILE – Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman shows the jury in the O.J. Simpson double murder trial evidence during testimony Friday, March 10, 1995. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, Pool, File)]
