OJ Simpson secretly believed he owed his freedom to Mark Fuhrman after his acquittal in his famous 1995 double murder trial -- while also thinking the then-LAPD detective was a total racist, according to The Juice's attorney.

Malcolm LaVergne, OJ's longtime lawyer and executor of his estate, tells TMZ ... "Privately, OJ was very thankful for Mark Fuhrman because Mark Fuhrman blew up the case for prosecutors" during OJ's 1995 trial for the savage murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles.  LaVergne pointed out OJ saw Furman as his "get out of jail free card."

As we first reported, Fuhrman died from throat cancer Monday in Idaho, where he moved after retiring from the Los Angeles Police Department in August 1995.

LaVergne also said OJ didn't care much for Fuhrman, viewing him as a racist after his repeated use of the "n" word was revealed during the OJ trial.

OJ's defense team played a tape in court, proving Fuhrman said the racial epithet dozens of times and catching him in a lie that he hadn't uttered the word once in the previous 10 years. The evidence destroyed Fuhrman's credibility as one of the primary detectives in the OJ case, leading to the former NFL great's acquittal.

LaVergne went on to tell us ... OJ received a lot of hate from people after the double murder trial because the public largely believed OJ was guilty of the crimes despite the jury's decision.

But, in LaVergne's opinion, the American public should have been angrier with Fuhrman for being a dirty cop and destroying the prosecution's case.

Furthermore, LaVergne says, OJ would have treated Fuhrman's death with respect if he was still around because he was a "class act." OJ died in 2024 after a battle with prostate cancer.