EX-DETECTIVE'S SENTENCE COULD CAST SHADOW OVER SIMPSON CIVIL TRIAL.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

The effects of Mark Fuhrman's perjury conviction Wednesday are bound to spill over into O.J. Simpson's civil trial, where potential jurors already have raised the specter of the former detective's racial epithets.

Legal experts said Fuhrman's admission that he lied on the witness stand could hurt the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman who are seeking to hold Simpson legally liable and recover monetary damages in the slayings of the pair.

The conviction ``keeps fresh in the civil jurors' minds that the case against Simpson was built upon the testimony of a perjurer and the key evidence - including the glove - was found by a racist,'' said Laurie Levenson, Loyola Law School dean.

Jury selection in the civil trial is under way in Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki's courtroom in Santa Monica. Many prospective jurors - among them several African-Americans - have called Fuhrman a racist and corrupt officer, while some have said they think he planted the bloody glove found next to Simpson's Brentwood home.

The police frame-up theory formed the backbone of the defense in the criminal trial, but it is not yet known whether Simpson's civil lawyers will be allowed to advance that proposition.

Fujisaki is threatening to throw out the frame-up theory unless Simpson's defense team presents solid evidence to support it.

Fuhrman was served with a subpoena for the civil trial Wednesday.

But even if the defense calls him to the stand, Fuhrman might do the same thing he did under similar circumstances at the criminal trial - invoke his Fifth Amendment right.

Usually, witnesses cannot invoke their right against self-incrimination in regard to a crime for which they've already been prosecuted.

But a Justice Department officials said Wednesday that federal officials are continuing their investigation into whether Fuhrman violated the civil rights of minority suspects during his career at the Los Angeles Police Department.

That means that the possibility of federal charges could be hanging over Fuhrman's head, and the ex-detective might be able to invoke his second Fifth, according to Peter Arenella, UCLA law professor.

But Fuhrman's negativity factor is already so well-ingrained in much of the public conscience that even if he's not in the courtroom, he'll be there, legal experts said.

``His specter will be present in that trial,'' Arenella said. ``Every juror will know that Fuhrman lied on the stand.''