Fuhrman Ashamed Of Epithet But Denies Framing Simpson
In his first in-depth interview, retired Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman apologizes “from the bottom of my heart” for using a racial slur but insists he’s not a racist and asserts repeatedly he did not plant evidence in the O.J. Simpson murder case.
In an interview with ABC-TV’s Diane Sawyer to be aired tonight on “PrimeTime Live,” Fuhrman also remarks on the turn of events that saw him plead no contest last week in Los Angeles Superior Court to a sole felony count of perjury: “Twenty years catchin’ felons. Now I am one.”
And he says the portrait of him that has emerged in the media is distorted: “I’ve had an autopsy done on me for two years - personally, professionally - and it’s been grossly unfair. Nobody’s reported my victories, my accomplishments, my true personality - the way I treat all people.”
Fuhrman, the erstwhile star prosecution witness in the Simpson murder trial, repeatedly had turned down interview requests for the past two years. His interview with Sawyer is scheduled to run in two segments the first tonight, the second next spring when his book is due to be released.
Even with a book in the works, Fuhrman nonetheless claims in the interview that he wishes he could escape the notoriety that led him to leave Los Angeles for a new home in Idaho.
In transcripts obtained Monday by the Los Angeles Times, Fuhrman says, “I don’t like doing this interview. I don’t like having people pick me out on the street. I don’t like the status - good, bad or indifferent. I don’t like it. I want my private life back, and I’m never going to have it.”
In the course of the lengthy interview with Sawyer, however, he recounts his childhood - growing up in a small town in Washington state, he says he wanted to be an artist - as well as his 20 years as a police officer.
He assesses his police career this way: “I had all the tools to do the job, but too much passion and sensitivity inside to understand that I couldn’t go the distance.”
Sawyer: “I can hear a lot of people at home snorting at the idea that Mark Fuhrman says he was too passionate and sensitive for anything.”
“You asked,” he responds. “I’m just bein’ truthful with you.”
Fuhrman says repeatedly that he did not plant evidence, as Simpson’s lawyers contended, at one point remarking: “There was never a shred, never a hint, never a possibility - not a remote, not a million-, not a billion-to-one possibility - I could have planted anything. Nor would I have a reason to.”
He adds: “They say it was because I was a racist. I’m not a racist.”
Though he testified early in the case that he had not used the “N-word” for the prior 10 years, that testimony was later contradicted by four defense witnesses, including aspiring screenwriter Laura Hart McKinney, who brought to court tape recordings of Fuhrman using the slur at least 41 times and bragging about illegal and unethical conduct.
About his testimony early on that he had not used the slur, Fuhrman tells Sawyer, “I don’t think I intended to lie.”
He explains later, “I never remembered those tapes. I was trying to do a screenplay. It was a misplaced effort and I did it the wrong way. I’m sorry for that.
“And not because I got caught on tape. Not because somebody that I thought (of) as a friend and a co-worker at this project gave them up. I’m sorry I ever did them because it embarrasses me and I’m ashamed of that.
“But that doesn’t mean I decided that I was gonna make this homicide an extension of some bizarre conspiracy. That’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.”
Asked if he believes Simpson was acquitted because of him, Fuhrman replies: “No. I was a lamb. I was an excuse. I was a reason the jury latched onto so they could feel good about themselves. They sat down knowing they were never going to convict that man.”
MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition