A DIFFERENT TAKE: Read an interview with another O.J. team member who loves the series.
Shapiro was your friend and he invited you to be part of the defense team. On the show, he’s portrayed as an empty suit, a Beverly Hills attorney more concerned about image than defending Simpson.
He kind of had the rug pulled out from under him, and appropriately so. It was certainly in OJ’s best interest that Johnnie [Cochran] take over as lead counsel. So, that part of the portrayal is accurate. But I thought it was all done [in real life] in a very above board, professional manner. Everyone was just keeping the interest of the client first. I don’t think any of this infighting among the lawyers that they are portraying ever affected the effectiveness of their representation of the client.
What was your biggest contribution in the run up to trial?
Getting the grand jury dismissed. That was huge. And as it played out, that really gave us a tremendous advantage in the case of having a preliminary hearing and of keeping the case downtown.
Because the preliminary hearing process allowed the defense access to information, as opposed to the grand jury process that’s cloaked in secrecy?
Yes, we could nail down police-officer testimony … and up until that point, there are very few [police] reports available [to the defense]. It was a key to the early phase of the case.
Were you excited or dreading the show and the possibility you would be portrayed on the series?
I had everybody emailing me saying who is going to play you. So when it turns out nobody is going to play me, I think I was as much relieved as I was disappointed.
It was Gerald Uelmen, not Cochran, who asked Fuhrman if he planted or manufactured evidence pic.twitter.com/ZZ1DRoyz6L — mikefleeman (@fleeman111) March 30, 2016
