Former Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman took the stand during the O.J. Simpson double murder trial. POO/AFP via Getty Images Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles Police detective who became a controversial figure in the O.J. Simpson trial, has died at the age of 76.
The Kootenai County coroner’s office confirmed he died on May 12. Details about a cause of death were not immediately available.
Fuhrman was one of the leads in the investigation into Simpson as a suspect after the former football star’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death. Dubbed as the “Trial of the Century” by the media, the trial was one of the most infamous court cases in American history and spanned from 1994 to 1995.
Fuhrman was responsible for the discovery of the “bloody glove” at Simpson’s home, and gained backlash in the trial when a 1985 tape surfaced of him boasting about mistreating Black people and using the n-word. Simpson’s “Dream Team” of high-priced lawyers questioned Fuhrman’s credibility and criticized his use of racist language, marking a pivotal point in the trial and the jury’s decision to acquit Simpson.
The defense argued that Fuhrman had planted the glove out of racial animus, which Fuhrman denied.
