Clark Oversees ''Lie Detector'' Tests Tuesday

Marcia Clark and Mark Fuhrman, together again.

Well, almost.

The former prosecutor who made a national name for herself with the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, Clark is linked again to Fuhrman - the ex-police detective who became one of the most controversial witnesses in that case - by "Lie Detector," a new Fox special airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday on KCPQ-TV.

With Clark as host, the program puts Fuhrman and other high-profile figures to the test, as a machine gauges their responses. Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, is quizzed about the 1994 attack on her figure-skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. Also, James Nichols comments on his brother Terry, convicted as a conspirator in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Clark is quick to state that having Fuhrman on "Lie Detector" was "not my idea. The producers felt that people might like some closure on that situation. I wanted to be as journalistic as possible about this show, so I didn't want to do any segment in which I had a personal involvement. That might make it seem like I had an agenda about which way I thought it should go."

To that end, Clark introduces the Fuhrman portion without having a direct role in it. "This wouldn't happen again," she says of possible "Lie Detector" specials to come, "since there's no other case that would be topical for the program and that I would have had such an involvement in. I have said I will do no more Simpson

(interviews), but that doesn't mean everyone else in the world is ready to get past it. It's not for me to cut them off."

Though she feels "Lie Detector" still could work without such famous guests, Clark allows, "For this first special, it probably will help get people's attention to use such widely known subjects, but it doesn't always have to be that way. We could go into notorious cases that haven't been so played up by the media. There are plenty of them, as I know very well. Walk into any prison and you have some incredible stories."

Since her 1997 resignation from the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, Clark has filled in frequently on CNBC's "Rivera Live," but she admits she's been "feeling my way around" in deciding her next career move. "I've been asking myself, `What do I like to do? Where could I make a contribution? Where could I be provocative in a helpful way?' When I first substituted for Geraldo, that's when I think I realized, `I really like this, and I can do good at this.'

"I have 16 years of trial experience, so I can really give people an inside look at a trial lawyer's strategy and explain cases helpfully, instead of just offering `spin.' I had a career as a defense attorney and took a substantial pay cut to become a prosecutor, but I had to do what I believed in. It's an important job, and it's important to have people who do it the right way, fairly and ethically. I take that mindset wherever I go."

Clark's book on the Simpson trial, "Without a Doubt," has just been published in paperback. She says the reaction to its original printing was educational for her: "I think there were some people who wanted to hear my side of the case, but didn't necessarily care about me. I also think there were people interested in me but sick of the case, so I'll be interested to see how the paperback version does."