``Detective Fuhrman, did you plant or manufacture any evidence in this case?'' Uelmen asked.
``I assert my Fifth Amendment privilege,'' Fuhrman replied, his attorney standing at his side.
Fuhrman gave a similar answer to three other questions including, ``Have you ever falsified a police report?''
As Fuhrman was led out of court, Simpson was overcome with emotion. His eyes reddened and he buried his face in his hands, apparently crying.
In the audience, victim Ronald Goldman's sister Kim shook her head.
``The mountain of evidence has crumbled in an avalanche of lies,'' defense attorney Robert Shapiro said outside court.
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``Today, you saw an unprecedented event,'' he told reporters. ``You saw a lead detective who is the person responsible for obtaining a majority of evidence in this case refuse to answer questions on the grounds that it may incriminate him.''
Lead attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. added: ``We are not gloating; what we are saying is it's a very, very serious day for justice, not only in this county but in this country. ... We're going to move forward on this case and get what we believe we richly deserve - an acquittal.''
Legal experts said that under California law, it was unlikely Fuhrman would be required to assert his constitutional right again with jurors present. The defense likely will ask the judge to tell jurors that Fuhrman pleaded the Fifth, but they won't be allowed to consider such a claim in deciding on a verdict.
The courtroom was hushed as the tall, solemn-faced detective walked to the witness stand. He last testified in March, when he told about finding a bloody glove on Simpson's property and denied having used the word ``nigger'' in the past decade.
Since then, the world has heard that Fuhrman used the slur repeatedly during his taped interviews with an aspiring screenwriter who was working on a project about the Los Angeles Police Department.
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