American Crime Story: Did the Real Mark Fuhrman Own a Nazi Medal? Next week he takes the 5th

[MinM]

The truth behind The People V. O.J. Simpson’s shocking conclusion.

by Joanna Robinson

After five episodes a clear pattern has emerged: The People v. O.J. Simpson loves leaving viewers with a shock. This week’s episode, “The Race Card,” was no exception. As tensions on the prosecution team mounted around the credibility of LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman, Sarah Paulson’s Marcia Clark scoffs, “What’s so difficult? He’s just a cop on a stand.” But the other shoe drops immediately as the episode closes with a shot of Fuhrman actor Steven Pasquale standing in front of a display cabinet containing, among other World War II memorabilia, a Nazi medal. So did the real Fuhrman actually own that medal? There were definitely allegations that he did.

According to a 1995 LA Times report, deputy district attorney, Lucienne Coleman, a “17-year veteran of the office and former head of its sex crimes division” went on record about the rumors that “Fuhrman had committed an act of anti-Semitic vandalism and had boasted of an intimate relationship with Nicole Brown Simpson.” Coleman claimed that Fuhrman had painted the locker of a fellow officer with swastikas because that detective had “recently married a Jewish woman” and accused Fuhrman of walking “around on weekends wearing Nazi paraphernalia.” Coleman’s statements were not corroborated by the other officers and district attorneys she named in her claims and even through she brought them to Marcia Clark before the trial, a prosecution source dismissed the allegations as “multiple hearsay, really just gossip.”

But gossip or no, the question of Nazi memorabilia did become part of the case. According to CNN’s transcription of a 1995 CourtTV account, Judge Lance Ito “refused to let the defense see papers linked to allegations Fuhrman had Nazi paraphernalia at his desk.” And in 1996—well after the “not guilty” verdict had been read—Johnnie Cochran told The San Francisco Chronicle:

Darden also knew that Fuhrman was a bad guy. He knew he collected Nazi memorabilia; he knew his past record. I went over to him at the trial because I had respect for him, and I said don’t, as a black man, take Fuhrman (as a witness); you’ll be used. After all, I didn’t question Fuhrman -- I had Bailey do it. Well, Chris read all kinds of things into that, but I wanted to help him. ...

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/mark-fuhrman-nazi-people-vs-oj

[underpants]

1. Commentator on Fox News. How about that.

His soft lit cheap lawyer's commercial office still cracks me up. They draw the shades because it's usually 5:30 or 6:00 in the afternoon west coast time when he is on. Gimmicks to add credibility to the only person actually convicted in the whole OJ case.