Review of 35 Fuhrman Cases Reveals No Racism

For many, the name Mark Fuhrman may be synonymous with racist cops who would risk everything--including their law enforcement careers--to lie or plant evidence. But a limited review of cases handled by the former LAPD detective has found no such allegations of misconduct, according to the Los Angeles County public defender’s office.

While cautioning that the just-completed review involved only about 35 cases dating back to 1988, Deputy Public Defender Michael Clark confirmed Thursday that it did not uncover any charges by defendants that Fuhrman lied, planted evidence or engaged in racial slurs.

“I was surprised,” said Clark, who conducted the review.

“You can’t use this to say Fuhrman is a liar or not a liar or that he plants evidence or doesn’t plant evidence,” Clark said, noting the limited scope of the review. “[But] I would have thought there would be some allegations . . . [and] they didn’t show up.”

Fuhrman’s conduct as a Los Angeles Police Department officer became a central focus in the O.J. Simpson murder trial when defense attorneys alleged that the veteran detective was a racist who planted evidence to frame Simpson. Those allegations were fueled by taped interviews between Fuhrman and an aspiring screenwriter, recordings where the veteran detective repeatedly used racial epithets and bragged about brutalizing suspects.

Clark said the defender’s office began the review of cases handled by Fuhrman as “an afterthought” when it decided to reexamine investigations conducted by two veteran LAPD detectives, Andrew Teague and Charles Markel. In September, the two were suspended for allegedly falsifying evidence in a murder case. Clark said the office’s review uncovered sufficient grounds for asking that three or four cases handled by the detectives be reopened.

But the review of Fuhrman’s cases--non-homicide felonies ranging from grand theft auto to street robberies--turned up nothing to suggest misconduct, Clark said.

In November, The Times reported that more than half a dozen LAPD officers who worked with Fuhrman, all but one of them black or Latino, said he not only showed no racist attitudes but seemed to get along well with people of all ethnic groups.

In analyzing the public defender’s findings, Clark said the review involved only a fraction of the hundreds of cases that would have been handled by Fuhrman during his career. The cases reviewed occurred after 1988. Fuhrman returned to duty in 1984, when his request for early retirement was denied.

Despite its limitations, the review was seen as a vindication of sorts for the LAPD’s internal review, Cmdr. Tim McBride said.

Although the LAPD’s investigation into Fuhrman’s entire career remains two or three months from completion, McBride said, the public defender’s report suggests that the department and other agencies charged with reviewing the department’s cases are doing their job.

Whether the same can be said about the Teague and Markel cases remains unclear. If the public defender’s office moves to reopen cases involving those officers, McBride said, the LAPD will reexamine the work of the detectives.