Tapes Jolt Simpson Trial -- Fuhrman's Remarks About Ito's Wife Raise The Possibility Judge May Have To Leave Case

LOS ANGELES - Judge Lance Ito raised the possibility today that he would withdraw from the O.J. Simpson murder trial as explosive transcripts of taped interviews revealed that Detective Mark Fuhrman derided the judge's wife and predicted the prosecution is doomed without him.

Ito said today that he may have to withdraw if prosecutors called his wife to testify. "Just when you thought we couldn't have anything crazier happen," Ito said.

Ito postponed the day's scheduled testimony and called a two-hour recess to research the law and come to a decision. His options included staying on, having another judge rule only on the admissibility of the Fuhrman tapes, or removing himself from the rest of the case and letting another judge preside over the trial.

Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran argued that Ito not withdraw, as the judge said he would have to do if the prosecution called his wife, police Capt. Margaret York, to rebut Fuhrman's statements.

"That's a side, minimal issue," Cochran said. "Don't stop these proceedings. . . . We want to finish this case."

"At this point," Ito said, "what is necessary to determine is whether or not Capt. York will be a material witness in this case and her testimony would be relevant or material to any of the issues before the court.

"If that is true, then this court would be required to recuse itself from further participation in this case," the judge continued.

Cochran said he wants the parts of the tapes which relate to York to be edited out.

"Your wife has nothing to do with this," Cochran told the judge, his voice rising. "We are not going to stipulate . . . to a mistrial."

The defense is trying to cast doubt on the testimony of Fuhrman, who found a bloody glove on Simpson's property and denied to the jury that he had used a racial epithet to refer to blacks in the past 10 years. Fuhrman used the word on the tapes of interviews about a fictional account about how women employees are treated in the Los Angeles Police Department.

The defense has contended that Fuhrman is a racist who planted the bloody glove on Simpson's property to frame him for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend.

Furhman is now retired.

Tapes irrelevant, Clark says

Prosecutor Marcia Clark argued today that the tapes were irrelevant because there was no evidence that Fuhrman planted evidence against Simpson. She asked that the Simpson trial proceed while another judge handles the issue of the tapes' relevancy.

Cochran, who, with the prosecution, has heard the tapes, said that in July 1994, after Fuhrman testified at the preliminary hearing, the detective told a screenwriter:

"I am the most important witness in the trial of the century. If I go down, their case goes bye-bye."

On the tapes, Fuhrman talks about plans for a libel lawsuit against defense attorney Robert Shapiro, after a New Yorker article in which defense sources outlined their Fuhrman strategy, Cochran said.

Cochran said Fuhrman said he was looking forward to suing Shapiro out of his house and swimming pool. Fuhrman also referred to the fact that Shapiro is Jewish.

Fuhrman also spoke about the legal proceedings against Simpson, according to the transcripts.

In a closed meeting yesterday, attorneys and Ito wrestled with how to proceed with the case in light of the allegedly racist statements uttered by Fuhrman in taped interviews with the screenwriter.

Most troubling to all involved were Fuhrman's disparaging remarks about Ito's wife. The statements set a mistrial landmine and raised the possibility another judge would have to rule on the tapes' admissibility.

Doesn't recall interaction

York, who was Fuhrman's superior at one time, filed a sworn statement earlier in the case that she had no recollection of any interaction between herself and Fuhrman, and insisted that if Fuhrman were as bad as he was alleged to have been, she would have remembered.

"Mark Fuhrman discusses Lt. York . . . and their run-ins at West L.A.," Clark tells the judge, referring to a police precinct. "And he makes derogatory comments.

"Of course, I have to tell you, judge, this is a book about men against women, that is the whole thing, so he tees off on women through the whole thing."

In the transcripts, Cochran adds: "That is basically true, but he doesn't like blacks or Mexicans or Jews."

"Or whites, either," Clark said.

"He hates women," Cochran said. "He hates everybody except white, Anglo-Saxon men who are police officers."

"Yeah," Clark said. "And even them, not necessarily."

The tapes were recorded from 1985 to 1994 by a screenwriting professor in North Carolina, and Simpson's attorneys fought successfully in court for access to them.

In discussing the tapes yesterday, Ito called the situation a "double problem" because Fuhrman is disparaging of the judge's wife and of the police internal-affairs division, where York is now commanding officer.

Ito suggested that he could still rule on whether the tapes could be heard by the jury - if the defense offers only limited portions that address the issues of Fuhrman's alleged racism and willingness to frame suspects, and does not get into the subject of his views on women and the internal-affairs division.

But the hearing ended without resolution. Lawyers met again with the judge in chambers this morning, delaying the resumption of testimony from the police crime-lab manager.

Undisclosed details

The transcripts include previously undisclosed details, and both sides agreed that Fuhrman made offensive comments. But the prosecution insisted Fuhrman was merely exaggerating to make a better screenplay.

"He is a vicious, vicious guy who has no respect for anybody," Cochran said.

Cochran said Fuhrman offers tips on how to stop black motorists.

"He says you see a (racial slur) in a Porsche and he doesn't have a $100 suit on, then you stop him because he has probably stolen the car," Cochran said. "You don't look at the license plates."

Prosecutors said they wanted to call York, and Ito talked about the importance of resolving the conflict-of-interest issue.

"(This) is a significant legal issue, because we may be talking mistrial," Ito said.