Clark calls Cochran 'two-faced, hypocritical'

New book rails against system, judge, attorneys...

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- She dominated headlines for more than a year. She refused to bow down to defense attorney Johnnie Cochran and his famed Dream Team colleagues. Now, former prosecutor Marcia Clark unleashes her thoughts about the O.J. Simpson criminal trial in a new book.

"We lost because American justice is distorted by race. We lost because American justice is corrupted by celebrity," Clark writes in "Without a Doubt," which hit bookstands Friday.

In the 500-page book, Clark describes Cochran as a con man who tossed legal principles aside just to win the case: "I've lost all respect for you, Johnnie. You're a two-faced, hypocritical bastard just like the rest."

Clark blames police for sloppy work that she says paved the way for the defense theory of conspiracy. She hammers police detective Mark Fuhrman for destroying the case. Her wrath is equally harsh on Judge Lance Ito for allowing the "n-word" into the trial.

"(Ito) caved to the bullying of the defense, and in committing that single egregious error, he assured a hung jury, if not an acquittal."

At one point, she expresses complete contempt for the current judicial system. "I'd like to see us abolish the jury system," she writes. "Why leave the fate of our nation in the hands of these moon rocks?"

Simpson was acquitted of murder charges in the 1994 deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Clark writes that the not-guilty verdict left her feeling as if she had been pricked by "a thousand tiny needles."

Darden erred with glove

But Clark also faults fellow prosecutor Christopher Darden for not listening to her when she argued against using the now-infamous glove demonstration.

In comments made on ABC's "20/20" Friday, Clark said, "Chris pulls me aside and says, 'We've got to do it. We've got to do it now. Put the evidence gloves on him.'"

Clark said she responded with, "Are you out of your mind? We can't do that."

Special sections:

• Simpson Criminal Trial
• Simpson Civil Trial

Related stories:

• Marcia Clark plans TV show - January 10, 1997
• Marcia Clark resigns as prosecutor - January 9, 1997

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