Where Is Mark Fuhrman Now? He's Doing Exactly What You Think a Racist Ex-Cop Is Doing

The O.J. Simpson trial was dubbed the Trial of the Century, but a more accurate description might have been circus. There was no end in sight to the characters and antics that emerged from the proceedings that lasted 11 months. Simpson was backed by a team of lawyers who could have been in improv troupe in another life. From F. Lee Bailey (who defended Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler) to Johnnie Cochran (whose poetry contributed to Simpson's acquittal), it was quite the show.

And while each person involved was more memorable than the last, one individual was seared into the minds of those who obsessively followed the trial. Mark Fuhrman was one of the first detectives to arrive at the scene of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's murder. He was a key witness for the prosecution, but his racist past ended up being an integral part of Simpson's defense. Where is he now? Here's what we know.

If one had to choose the best place for a racist former cop to land, most people would probably pick Fox News. According to the network's website, Fuhrman "serves as a forensic and crime scene expert." Prior to that he was doing similar work for ABC, CBS, and Court TV. His Fox News bio references Fuhrman's involvement in the O.J. Simpson trial but neglects to mention the gritty details. He is applauded for his two decades' worth of service to the LAPD here he "received more than 55 official commendations."

After retiring in 1995, Fuhrman would go on to author seven books. The first, Murder in Brentwood, takes readers into the first 24 hours of the investigation into the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. It also includes evidence that wasn't part of the trial and posits that with said evidence, Simpson would have been found guilty. His most recent book was published in January 2024 and tackles death penalty sentences in Oklahoma, which in 2001 executed more people than any other state.

Kathleen Bell was a real estate agent in Redondo Beach, Calif., where she worked for Century 21 Bob Maher Realty from 1985 to 1986. Her office was above a recruitment center for the Marines which is where she met Fuhrman, a former member, for the first time. Back then he was a police officer in Westwood. She testified about an alarming exchange they once had, and claimed that Fuhrman said that "when he sees a n----r driving with a white woman, he would pull them over."

Another woman named Natalie Singer testified the same day as Bell. The single sentence she shared with the courtroom was something the defense and media would pick up on. Details of this conversation were not revealed, but Singer claimed that Fuhrman once told her that, "The only good n----r is a dead n----r."

Perhaps the most damning testimony came in the form of recordings that would later be known as the Fuhrman Tapes. They were subpoenaed from a writer named Laura Hart McKinny, who had interviewed Fuhrman and other members of law enforcement for a book she was writing, per the Los Angeles Times. In these recordings, Fuhrman used the racial slur for Black people several times. McKinny testified that she'd heard him say the specific slur 42 times.

Prior to playing these tapes for the court, Fuhrman testified that he had never used that racial slur. Once the truth came out, he was charged with perjury and lost all credibility as a witness. In 1996 he pleaded no contest and was given three years' probation plus a fine.