Murder in Brentwood
by Mark Fuhrman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark FuhrmanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-12-01
ISBN: 0821758551
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Zebra Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780821758557
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Murder in Brentwood
Book Review: Good treatment of the facts
Summary: 5 Stars
For those seeking to understand the facts surrounding the OJ Simpson murder case, this is probably the best treatment out there.
And by the facts, I'm talking the criminal investigation and the day of the murders themselves and not the subsequent trial. As to to the trial and more specifically what went wrong, the best book is probably Vincent Bugliosi's Outrage.
But as to the facts, this book is welcome reading.
In it you learn that author Fuhrman was not the first officer on the scene of the OJ Simpson murders. Other police officers were already there to witness the two victims of OJ Simpson's brutal knife attack (Simpson's ex wife Nicole and one Ron Goldman, a waiter purportedly there because he was bringing Nicole glasses her Mom left at the Mezzaluna restaurant they'd eaten at earlier that evening). What was found at the crime scene were a stocking cap, a left handed glove and several drops of blood that didn't match to either of the victms.
However the blood did match to Simpson. The stocking cap had nine hairs from OJ Simpson. And significantly clothing worn by Goldman had fibers matching that of clothing worn by Simpson himself that evening.
Just a few miles away, Simpson's Bronco was oddly parked outside his residence with blood evidence both inside and outside the vehicle connecting it with the crime scene. A blood trail existed between the Bronco and Simpson's residence and the right handed mate to the left handed glove was found outside Simpson's residence with blood traces from OJ Simpson and his victims.
Significantly a limo driver tasked to take OJ Simpson to a red eye flight was at his residence just as the murders were taking place and was unable to make contact with Simpson. But he did see a large African American male furtively entering his residence just prior to when he made contact...a time that was clearly after the murders had taken place.
In other words, OJ Simpson was connected with multiple pieces of incriminating evidence at both the crime scene and his residence AND he had no alibi.
Convetional wisdom at the time said there could hardly have been more evidence favoring conviction other than if OJ Simpson had confessed and/or recorded the crime.
So what happened? How did the case go from being open and shut to...well...just shut?
To hear Fuhrman tell it, it was everyone else's fault but his. For starters, the extensive notes he'd taken of his observations from the crime scene were not read by the ultimate Detectives in charge. Crime scene investigators didn't properly secure all the blood evidence at the crime scene including a bloodly thumbprint on the gate leaving Nicole's residence. What's more, prosecutors Marcia Clark and Chris Darden failed to properly prepare their witnesses.
I think I would've liked this book a lot better had Fuhrman been more willing to fess up to his personal responsibility in dropping the ball. No where in this book for example do read all the racist stuff he said in an effort to secure an early retirement in the early 1980s. Similarly, no where in this book does he repeat or express genuine regret for his multiple uses of the N word. Perhaps most of all, he dismisses his guilty plea to the crime of perjury by essentially saying the deal was too good and he didn't have the money to fight the charges.
I think I would have appreciated more honesty from Fuhrman. Yeah. I used the N word. Yeah. It's something I deeply regret like a stain on my personality or something. But even with that there were fourteen other officers who could have supported what I said about the glove and where I found it. Should my use of the N really allow a guy to get away with two murders?
I understand all hindsight is 20/20 but for my money our actions under pressure probably say more about our true priorities than anything else. What Fuhrman's said about his priorties was that when the going got tough, he was going to look for the fastest way out of a bad situation...perhaps all too sadly reminiscent of Simpson himself.
Summary of Murder in Brentwood
People know Mark Fuhrman as the most pivotal witness of the O.J. Simpson trial. Now, readers can meet the real Mark Fuhrman, as he sets the record straight on the infamous trial of the century. Includes 16 pages of never-before-published court documents and evidence photos.This book yields two surprises that have nothing to do with what made its author so notorious, but which have plenty to do with how public bureaucracies fail. First, it includes Furhman's contemporaneous crime scene notes (with observations as meticulous as any TV sleuth's), which make mention of a "visible fingerprint" Furhman saw on the Bundy back gate (and discussed with his partner at the time). Second, it reveals that Lange and Vannatter, the detectives from "downtown" who took over the case from Furhman, didn't check out the print that night or subsequently, and indeed never read Fuhrman's notes at all. That's why you didn't hear about the fingerprint during the criminal trial. (When authorities returned to sample blood from the back gate two weeks later, the print was gone.) In short, the main lesson of this book is an organizational one worth remembering: it doesn't matter if the grunts do a good job, if the big-shots don't follow up.
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