You Mad, MarKKK?: The People V. OJ Simpson, Ep. 9 Recap

1 of 12

❯

❮

Now that the jury has regained their composure and is once again puddy in Johnnie Cochran’s hands, the greatest defense lawyer of all-time is looking to turn up the pressure. Tearing down Mark Fuhrman’s credibility is at the top of the list.

In last night’s (March 29) episode of The People V. OJ Simpson, the dream team got wind that a screenplay writer named Laura Hart McKinny had interviewed Mark Fuhrman about his life as an LAPD officer. However, she was refusing to talk to them about it.

The defense smelled blood and stopped at nothing to retrieve the tapes – which Cochran referred to as “Manna from Heaven” – that proved to be riddled with inflammatory and racist remarks. Seriously, this dude used the “N” word so many times you’d think he did it just to keep his teeth white.

All the while Christopher Darden is hanging on by a thread to his temper and sanity due to Cochran’s constant bullying in the courtroom and in the media. Who knows what would’ve became of Darden had Cochran had access to social media in ’94.

Hit the flip to see just how the trial of the century became the trial of Mark Fuhrman in HipHopWired’s recap of episode 9 of The People V. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.

—

Photo: FX

Though the defense argued that OJ Simpson had limited mobility due to him being an “arthritic cripple,” it turns out Simpson had taped a workout video two weeks prior to the murder. The Juice was putting Richard Simmons to shame in that video too.

Johnnie Cochran continues to get under Christopher Darden’s skin in the courtroom by objecting to his questions – which were all sustained – making Darden seem like an amateur during his cross-examination. This led to Darden blowing one of many gaskets in this episode.

A white judge in a North Carolina courtroom denied Cochran’s motion to take the tapes back to LA. After filing an emergency appeal, F. Lee Bailey goes to bat and proves to be the Johnnie Cochran of the South leaving the famed defense lawyer in awe of his performance. Needless to say, they get the tapes.

The tapes proved that Mark “Jim Crow” Fuhrman used the “N” word more times than Trinidad James on the hook to “All Gold Everything” only with extreme prejudice.

On the tapes, Mark “Grand Dragon” Fuhrman call Itos wife Peggy York a marsupial and stated she wasn’t fit to be a cop. Fuhrman’s hate for York stems from her reprimanding him for writing “KKK” on a Martin Luther King Jr. poster.

Darden broke on Marcia Clark for insisting on using Fuhrman on the stand. He exclaimed his point by saying she wanted “a Black face” but never wanted “a Black voice.”

Fearing the court would rule against the use of the Fuhrman tapes, Johnnie Cochran put together a coalition of leaders of the Black community which demanded that the Fuhrman tapes be made public or reap the consequences i.e. another riot.

In the interest of “national concern,” Judge Ito chose to allow the tapes to be played in its entirety for the court (not the jury) which caused Darden to go postal in the courtroom. Son was ready to put them paws on a nervous Johnnie Cochran.

In the tapes, Fuhrman’s description of a day on a job was the equivalent to a Quentin Tarantino screenplay. The court was stunned. Johnnie Cochran seemed delighted.

Judge Ito ruled that only two sentences of the 13 hour tape were to be used in front of the jury – both of which had the “N” word – as he was only interested in bagging Fuhrman on the perjury charge.

During questioning, Mark “Colgate Smile” Fuhrman pled the 5th to every question asked. Even when asked if he planted or manufactured any evidence in the OJ Simpson case. But that didn’t matter because the whole hood knew Fuhrman was dirty.