Judge Bars Use of Fuhrman by Simpson Defense

The judge in the O.J. Simpson civil trial pulled a pivotal plank from the defense’s case Monday with a ruling that effectively ensures that jurors will not hear from former Los Angeles Police Det. Mark Fuhrman and will not learn of his alleged racism or his no-contest plea to a perjury charge.

Recognizing that Fuhrman, who now lives in Idaho, would probably be unwilling to testify in person, Simpson’s lawyers had sought to play videotapes of his criminal trial testimony for jurors in the civil case.

They argued that Fuhrman’s testimony would help them show that evidence against Simpson was improperly obtained, and would allow them to explore the key question of whether blood spots and a glove were planted.

But Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki ruled that the defense does not have the right to reprise Fuhrman’s criminal trial testimony because the plaintiffs would not have a chance to cross-examine him. Fuhrman’s perjury conviction and alleged racism also are out of bounds, Fujisaki ruled; because the plaintiffs did not call him as a witness, the defense has no grounds to try to discredit his character.

“The defendant has no apparent need for Fuhrman’s testimony, other than to show his alleged bias against the defendant,” Fujisaki said. “The defendant does not want to call him for any evidentiary purpose other than his impeachment.”

Because Fuhrman lives out of state, he cannot be compelled to testify in civil cases, even by subpoena. He did give a pretrial deposition under oath in Idaho--but he invoked the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to talk about his role in the Simpson case. That a witness takes the 5th is not considered admissible evidence, so that deposition will not be allowed in court, analysts said.

Both sides assume that Fuhrman will not appear in the Santa Monica courthouse because doing so would subject him to the same kind of battering he received during the criminal trial, when the defense slammed him as a racist rogue cop out to frame Simpson. During that trial, Fuhrman swore he had not used a racial slur denigrating African Americans in the past 10 years. But tape-recordings later revealed that he had used the word dozens of times while bragging about his work as a police officer. Earlier this year, Fuhrman pleaded no contest to a felony charge of perjury stemming from his testimony and was sentenced to probation.

About the only way that the defense can bring Fuhrman into the trial is to drop his name while questioning other witnesses who worked with him on the investigation of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman. During the jury selection process, they did just that, mentioning not only his name but also his perjury.

On Monday, defense attorney Daniel Leonard continued that practice.

He dropped Fuhrman’s name into his cross-examination of LAPD Sgt. Mark Day at least four times, invoking it in a disdainful, angry tone.

Day, in his former job as a Westec security guard, had responded to a domestic disturbance at the Simpsons’ residence in 1985. He testified that he found Nicole Simpson crying hysterically near a baseball bat and a dented Mercedes-Benz with a shattered front windshield. As Leonard pointed out, Day did not testify about that incident during the criminal trial because prosecutors chose to go with the LAPD officer who responded to the scene--a detective named Mark Fuhrman.

Day’s testimony came during an afternoon devoted to domestic violence, as plaintiffs’ attorneys sought to show jurors that Simpson had a history of abuse and a motive for murder. They started by zooming in on a photo of Nicole Simpson’s bruised face--her pale skin marred by scratch marks, swelling and the beginnings of a black eye--and later played tape-recordings of two 911 calls she made, one in 1989 and the other in 1993.

But the day’s most gripping testimony came from Det. John Edwards. Jurors watched intently as Edwards, who was wearing a “Beauty and the Beast” tie, described how a shivering, hysterical and bruised Nicole Simpson collapsed in his arms when he responded to a 911 call outside her home on New Year’s Day 1989. She was screaming, “He’s going to kill me! He’s going to kill me!” he said.