The People V. . . . Episode Nine

In a recent TV interview, Alan Dershowitz was asked about the TV series, "The People V. O. J. Simpson."  He said it was an interesting fictionalization.  

We saw that in the interactions between Chris Darden and Marcia Clark which the writers made out as very close to being a romantic relationship.  There is nothing I remember in my reading that they ever apologized to each other as the series writers suggest.  Over the last few days, I've read portions of Detective Fuhrman's, Fred Goldman's, Lawrence Schiller's, and Jeffrey Toobin's books about the Fuhrman testimony.  All of the books made Darden out to be very hard-nosed and aggressive, not at all the gentle giant of a man shown in the series.  And Clark never softened beyond changing her clothes and hairstyle during the trial.  

The series writers may have made up a lot of stuff but they did make points on behalf of women's rights, especially how much they are hounded if they are accomplished and successful.  They have also been clear that African Americans have been and still are victimized by the criminal justice system.

The writers made sure to have Clark say that bringing in Fuhrman for further testimony would so enflame the jury that they would ignore the evidence in order to punish the LAPD.  Toobin wrote in his book that OJ was the "undeserved beneficiary" of the the jury's attitude toward the police.  

But the writers got it right when they did the court scene with Fuhrman.  They had the wrong defense lawyer question him but the truth is that Fuhrman took the Fifth Amendment and looked guilty of all kinds of evidence planting and violence against the African American community.

A few years before the trial, a screen writer from North Carolina had a chance encounter with Fuhrman and thought she found an experienced cop who could give her background for her writing police drama for TV.  She recorded and had transcribed their extensive conversations.  Not only did Fuhrman use the "N" word forty two times, he described in detail numerous events where police tactics used unprovoked violence toward Black people and tampered extensively with evidence to get convictions.  Copies of the tapes and transcripts were gone over carefully by both prosecution and defense and by the time Fuhrman came into the court room, no one wanted to look at him.  Even the crowd in the court room had heard snippets of the tapes over radio and TV the previous few days,  The only one who really watched Fuhrman enter and sit down was Fred Goldman, Ron's father, who was furious that it was now Fuhrman on trial rather than OJ.

Fuhrman wrote in his book MURDER IN BRENTWOOD that he was ready to explain everything because he felt completely innocent of any tampering with evidence and that his taped conversations had been pure fiction.  But on advice of his new lawyer (his old one quit when the tapes were released) and because he knew no one on the prosecution would be willing to be his advocate, he wrote that he had to take the Fifth.  Clark did turn her back on him as he came in and Darden left the courtroom, just as the series showed.  Poor Fuhrman . . . not!

Anyone who knew the actual content of the tapes knew he was bad.  Schilling reported that the writer who had made the tapes was called to the stand and said she was convinced during her interviews with him that he was talking about how he operated as a cop.

In the show, I noticed that there was no jury when Fuhrman testified.  The books all confirmed they were not there to see him take the Fifth.  Though it was not shown in this episode,  Judge Ito brought them in for the writer's testimony and she confirmed it was Fuhrman's voice on the two brief segments (total of fourteen words) that were allowed to be presented.  When asked, she said Fuhrman had been totally serious and scary when he described treatment of African Americans and when he used the "N" word.  The series writers indicated that the jurors found out about all the stuff outside of the courtroom during conjugal visits with spouses during "pillow talk."  

Goldman did a news conference immediately after that session blasting the judge for allowing the trial to turn into the "people v. Fuhrman."  In his book, Goldman never used OJ's name, but referred to him as the killer, murderer, and such terms.  There is more to know about Goldman and I may do a post on him.

You may ask why Fuhrman didn't say "No" when asked specifically about evidence tampering.  Another arcane rule of law is that once he started claiming the Fifth, if he answered anything but that way, he could be subjected to extensive questioning and lose his Fifth Amendment right.  Fuhrman later pleaded "no contest" to the felony charge of perjury in OJ's trial.  The LAPD found insufficient evidence to try him for the incidents he described for the screen writer.  Fuhrman was thus a convicted felon, could no longer be a policeman, and even lost his right to a gun,  Meanwhile he has done well as a mystery writer living in Idaho and being a guest expert on FOX.

Was anything entered into evidence in this episode that the jury could have used?

The opening scene has a person of foreign extraction testifying to hearing someone yell "Hey, Hey, Hey" from the crime scene.  But no time is given.  And Clark says he saw a Bronco by the alley gate to Bundy.  What wasn't shown was that the witness went on to say he saw four men running from the scene and driving the white SUV south rather than north toward Rockingham.  

The testimony was abridged by the series writers in order to focus on another point about racism.  The man said someone responded and sounded like he was Black.  Cochran jumped all over that presumption and said there was no way to take that seriously because no one can tell such a thing for sure.  

Cochran saw the case as OJ v. American racism.  But "Americans" do not realize just how racist we are and so the show leaves the impression Cochran was using a tactic rather than showing the truth.  And as Fuhrman came into focus in this episode, his racism was used as the best example of Cochran's tactic to hijack the case and put the LAPD on trial.

The writers and Toobin have set up the jury to be so angry about Fuhrman that they can't think straight and deal with the evidence.  Or was Cochran correct when he said earlier in the series that they would be mature enough to look past the epithets directed toward Blacks and be able to keep their poise.  We'll see next week if the jury is given that credit.