Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
Climaxing months of defense claims that Simpson was framed by a racist detective, Fuhrman refused to answer any question. Jurors weren't in the courtroom to see the brief confrontation between Simpson attorney Gerald Uelmen and the subdued detective who, five months earlier, told the panel he found a bloody glove on Simpson's property.
``Detective Fuhrman, did you plant or manufacture any evidence in this case?'' Uelmen asked.
``I assert my Fifth Amendment privilege,'' Fuhrman replied, his attorney standing at his side.
Fuhrman gave a similar answer to three other questions including, ``Have you ever falsified a police report?''
As Fuhrman was led out of court, Simpson was overcome with emotion. His eyes reddened and he buried his face in his hands, apparently crying.
In the audience, victim Ronald Goldman's sister Kim shook her head.
``The mountain of evidence has crumbled in an avalanche of lies,'' defense attorney Robert Shapiro said outside court.
``Today, you saw an unprecedented event,'' he told reporters. ``You saw a lead detective who is the person responsible for obtaining a majority of evidence in this case refuse to answer questions on the grounds that it may incriminate him.''
Lead attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. added: ``We are not gloating; what we are saying is it's a very, very serious day for justice, not only in this county but in this country. ... We're going to move forward on this case and get what we believe we richly deserve - an acquittal.''
Legal experts said that under California law, it was unlikely Fuhrman would be required to assert his constitutional right again with jurors present. The defense likely will ask the judge to tell jurors that Fuhrman pleaded the Fifth, but they won't be allowed to consider such a claim in deciding on a verdict.
Fuhrman's appearance was preceded by his attorney's announcement that he had advised his client not to answer any questions. Uelmen said he wanted to hear that from Fuhrman's own lips.
The courtroom was hushed as the tall, solemn-faced detective walked to the witness stand. He last testified in March, when he told about finding a bloody glove on Simpson's property and denied having used the word ``nigger'' in the past decade.
Since then, the world has heard that Fuhrman used the slur repeatedly during his taped interviews with an aspiring screenwriter who was working on a project about the Los Angeles Police Department.
``Good afternoon, Mr. Fuhrman,'' Judge Lance Ito said.
``Good afternoon, your honor,'' Fuhrman replied.
Uelmen then asked: ``Detective Fuhrman, was the testimony you gave at the preliminary hearing in this case completely truthful?''
``I wish to assert my Fifth Amendment privilege,'' said Fuhrman, who was allowed to return home to Idaho but was subject to recall.
Before Fuhrman took the stand, Uelmen used tapes on interviews of Fuhrman to renew one of the first motions ever made in the case - a bid to suppress evidence seized at Simpson's estate.
Uelmen said the new evidence justifies reversal of a ruling made last summer by a municipal court judge who upheld the warrantless entry onto Simpson's property the morning the bodies were found. Fuhrman scaled a wall at Simpson's estate and then opened a gate for other detectives.
Uelmen argued outside the jury's presence that the tapes, on which Fuhrman talks about manufacturing probable cause in another case, prove that Fuhrman can't be trusted and the search he led was illegal. Furhman's spokesman has said his taped comments were exaggerations to impress his interviewer.
Uelmen quoted liberally from Fuhrman's profanity-laced statements, including one in which he vowed his love of police work and declared, ``This job is not rules. This is a feeling. (Expletive) the rules. We'll make them up later.''
Uelmen said this was directly relevant to detectives' post-search claims that they entered Simpson's property to notify him of his ex-wife's murder and search for other victims.
Prosecutor Cheri Lewis argued that the newly discovered tapes would not have changed the earlier ruling. She also said Fuhrman, whose tape-recorded comments date to 1985, may not feel the same way now.
``People change over time,'' she said, although she quickly added, ``I'm not going to defend Mark Fuhrman.''
Ito didn't immediately rule.
The defense attack on Fuhrman, which consumed much of Tuesday's court session, resumed Wednesday when a black man once arrested by an angry Fuhrman told jurors Fuhrman turned on him in the police car and sneered, ``I told you we'd get you, nigger.''
Roderic T. Hodge testified that he felt ``belittled, scared and very, very angry.''
Hodge, a communications repair technician who now lives in Dolton, Ill., was the fourth witness in two days and the first black to attribute racist invective to the former detective.
Hodge said Fuhrman uttered the slur when they were in a police car, with Hodge handcuffed in the back seat and Fuhrman sitting in the passenger seat while another officer drove. The jury wasn't told why Hodge was arrested.
Hodge described Fuhrman's tone of voice as full of ``anger, hatred, just something from deep inside ... just very ugly.''
by CNB