Superstar Lawyer Johnnie Cochran Dies
Mar 29, 6:35 PM (ET)
By GREG RISLING
(AP) Attorney Johnny Cochran arrives at Manhattan Supreme Court in a New York file photo from Jan. 29,...
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who became a legal superstar after helping clear O.J. Simpson during a sensational murder trial in which he uttered the famous quote "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," died Tuesday. He was 67.
Cochran died of a brain disorder in Los Angeles, said law partner Randy McMurray.
"Certainly, Johnnie's career will be noted as one marked by celebrity cases and clientele," his family said in a statement. "But he and his family were most proud of the work he did on behalf of those in the community."
With his colorful suits and ties, his gift for courtroom oratory and a knack for coining memorable phrases, Cochran was a vivid addition to the pantheon of great American barristers.
The "if it doesn't fit" phrase would be quoted and parodied for years afterward. It derived from a dramatic moment during which Simpson tried on a pair of bloodstained "murder gloves" to show jurors they did not fit. Some legal experts called it the turning point in the trial.
Soon after, jurors found the Hall of Fame football star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
For Cochran, Simpson's acquittal was the crowning achievement in a career notable for victories, often in cases with racial themes. He was a black man known for championing the causes of black defendants. Some of them, like Simpson, were famous, but more often than not they were unknowns.
"The clients I've cared about the most are the No Js, the ones who nobody knows," said Cochran, who proudly displayed copies in his office of the multimillion-dollar checks he won for ordinary citizens who said they were abused by police.
"People in New York and Los Angeles, especially mothers in the African-American community, are more afraid of the police injuring or killing their children than they are of muggers on the corner," he once said.
By the time Simpson called, the byword in the black community for defendants facing serious charges was: "Get Johnnie."
He's saving a seat in Hell for OJ...
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wannabuyamonkey said:
Cochran died of a brain disorder...
I know I shouldn't laugh... but... 
.
Brain tumor?
Thats explains a lot.
Life is Precious...and God...and the Bible.
So, I didn't know him..i hate a celebrity died let's feel happy/sad threads...
Who cares?..I care if someone I know dies..blehhh..
I personally think its a good thing he died. He made a career out of spreading racism and defending the guilty.
Is it too much to ask that this happens to jesse jackson next?
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PigIron said:
I care if someone I know dies..blehhh..
Awwwwwww so you'd miss me if I died??
You know, you people can really be fucking insensitive! A man is dead, for God's sake, and you all decide to mock him! He wasn't just a corrupt, racially and monetarily motivated "scumbag" of a lawyer who was able to dupe a racially motivated jury into freeing a guilty wife murderer! He was the innovator of the "Chewbacca Defense"!!! Remember that before you slag the late Johnnie Cochrane...
...who I hope is sucking cocks as he roasts in the bowels of Hell.
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PrincessElisa said:
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PigIron said:
I care if someone I know dies..blehhh..
Awwwwwww so you'd miss me if I died??
It depends how well i get to know you.... 
For total smoothness I'd give that line an 8 outta ten ;P
Perfect score woulda said, "I dropped a tear in the ocean. The day you find it is the day I will stop missing you."
What if a guy said that to you on the phone? Say he's at his house and you're in your house, and you two will see each other that weekend? Is it still a perfect score, or is it just a little melodramatic in that instance?
Back on topic, Johnnie Cochran stinks.
Nah, that's only after i gets ta know ya better..
JM say it..it'll score ya brownie points with the girl
Whatever Pigsy ;p Know "ya better" and how many months have we been chatting at the boards together....se la vive.
Has it been months? it seems like a week..maybe our time together will always lead to such timeless feelings of yesterday...and isn't that the true measure of a person? How they make you feel like you've known them forever and yet it seems like just yesterday.....that you fell....
now back to topic or G-man will delete us....
Awwwww that was so sweet! See, I SO knew that literature majors could be romantic and poetic at the same time!
Um......yeah I don't really know what to feel about Johnnie dying. I just still can't believe O.J. walked, he was so guilty circumstantial evidence alone. If the investigation would not have been handled so sloppily OJ woulda gotten convicted. I'll always remember, "if the gloves didn't fit, then please acquit" part though. Gosh this thread brings back history memories from high school ;p
Ummm, I was talking about when i fell to the Sith....like J Cochran..he is a Sith......There aren't any black Sith unless you count the voice of James Earl Jones...humm???? That's interesting...
Is J Cochran a Sith????
In the words of the immortal poet, "I must be wishing on someone else's star because someone else always gets what I wished for :P"
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wannabuyamonkey said:
Cochran died of a brain disorder.
Your welcome.
No, I was trying to get back on topic so my post would be immortalized forever without getting deleted..
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Joe Mama said:He was the innovator of the "Chewbacca Defense"!!!
The what?
(I'm picturing Cochrane delivering a variation of "let the Wookie win" to a jury.)
You've never heard of the Wookie defense...???
Cut me some slack. It's been a while.
I was in sixth and seventh grade during the OJ trail, fer Pete's sake.
I'll explain..
Chef hears a song that Cartman can't get out his head and Chef
says that he wrote that song over twenty years ago. When Chef and the
boys visit the record company, the record company says they are going
to sue him. Capitalist Records hires Johnny Cochran, who uses the
Chewbacca defense, the same defense that he used in the Simpson trial.
"Chewbacca is a wookie from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on
the planet Endor. Now think about that; that does not make sense. Why
would a wookie, an 8 foot tall wookie, want to live on Endor with a
bunch of two foot tall ewoks? That does not make sense! But more
importantly, you have to ask yourself, what does that have to do with
this case?' Nothing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it has nothing to do with
this case. It does not make sense!"
Thus, the signs that the guys on the board either need sleep or to lay off the alcohol ;p
Or you need to speak German.....
As I was sober last night and wide awake (I get 8 - 10 hrs of sleep regularly), I'd guess that maybe the joke just went over Elisa's head.
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god said:
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wannabuyamonkey said:
Cochran died of a brain disorder.
Your welcome.
your grammar sucks god.
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PrincessElisa said:
For total smoothness I'd give that line an 8 outta ten ;P
Perfect score woulda said, "I dropped some semen in the ocean. The day you find it is the day I will stop missing you."
I like when the jurors head explodes during the wookie defense.
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Joe Mama said:
(I get 8 - 10 hrs of sleep regularly)
On behalf of insomniacs everywhere (3.5 hours is a good night for me), I hate you. 
that was me before back surgery where 1-2 hours was a good night for me......now I'm back to 8-9 hours THANK GOD!
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PJP said:
your grammar sucks god.
Actually, it should be "Your grammar sucks, god."
No problem. Truth be known, I really just wanted the chance to type, "Your grammar sucks, god."
Was Cochran to some extent a cynical opportunist who exploited the O.J. case, and racial tensions in L.A., in order to get his client off?
Sure.
On the other hand, if the prosecution in that case hadn't been remarkably incompetent, it wouldn't have mattered.
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the G-man said:
Was Cochran to some extent a cynical opportunist who exploited the O.J. case, and racial tensions in L.A., in order to get his client off?
Sure.
On the other hand, if the prosecution in that case hadn't been remarkably incompetent, it wouldn't have mattered.
Don't bother us with trifles like the truth!
He was also a horrible racist and defended murderers.
What's wrong with defending murderers?
I'm one of the most law and order guys on the board, but even a murderer deserves a fair trial.
And you don't get a fair trial unless some lawyer defends you.
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the G-man said:
What's wrong with defending murderers?
Their murderers.
But how do you know that until there's a trial?
Look, if your not happy with your line of work, maybe you should look into another job.
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Pig Iron said:
I'll explain..
Chef hears a song that Cartman can't get out his head and Chef
says that he wrote that song over twenty years ago. When Chef and the
boys visit the record company, the record company says they are going
to sue him. Capitalist Records hires Johnny Cochran, who uses the
Chewbacca defense, the same defense that he used in the Simpson trial.
"Chewbacca is a wookie from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on
the planet Endor. Now think about that; that does not make sense. Why
would a wookie, an 8 foot tall wookie, want to live on Endor with a
bunch of two foot tall ewoks? That does not make sense! But more
importantly, you have to ask yourself, what does that have to do with
this case?' Nothing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it has nothing to do with
this case. It does not make sense!"
This episode is on Comedy central right now.
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rex said:
Is it too much to ask that this happens to jesse jackson next?
Well, it's not much Rex but I found this story funny as hell..
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The Rev. Al Sharpton's phone began ringing in New York on Tuesday afternoon, the day after the May 9 shooting that wounded a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and the driver of a cornered SUV and shattered windows and walls of homes.
By Wednesday, the renowned law enforcement critic was in Los Angeles, calling the barrage "the shootout at the OK Corral." Activist circles buzzed with rumors that the Rev. Jesse Jackson would be coming to town.
Los Angeles County seemed poised once again to stand in the eyes of the nation as the epicenter of police brutality.
But county Sheriff Lee Baca had been making his rounds too. By noon Monday, less than 12 hours after the shooting, he had offered this blunt critique: "I know there were too many shots fired. I don't need an investigation to tell me that."
By 3 a.m. Tuesday, Baca was dressed and ready for appearances on "Good Morning America," the "Today" show and news programs on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. For the next 90 minutes, he was live on national TV promising a thorough review of the shooting, which followed an early morning, low-speed chase through residential streets.
The next afternoon, Baca began walking door to door in Compton, tallying bullet holes and offering apologies. Sharpton met up with him there.
That night, the sheriff took the stage at a town hall meeting offering residents compensation for homes damaged in the shooting spree.
Taking a cue from their leader, the deputies involved offered a striking public apology Friday.
By Saturday morning, while activists were busy urging residents to turn out for a Monday rally, Baca had managed to deflect community anger and keep agitators at bay. He did it by borrowing a page from activists' own handbook — denouncing the shootings, ordering an inquiry and meeting with residents to, as he says, "absorb their pain."
The shooting involved 10 deputies trying to stop the unarmed driver of an SUV. The investigation may not be complete for weeks, but one thing has become clear: Baca's response represents a new approach to handling the fallout from controversial shootings. And it has left community activists scrambling to compete.
They had expected stonewalling, denials, delay. Instead they got a contrite sheriff and a multiracial corps of apologetic deputies, who stood somberly before news cameras while their attorney conveyed "their unqualified and sincere apology to those who … were affected by the shooting."
Although they stopped short of saying that their tactics toward a man they had believed to be armed and dangerous were wrong, the symbolism proved compelling.
Then Jackson, who had arrived in Los Angeles that weekend, called the shooting a hate crime and an act of terrorism.
Local activists were forced back on their heels, caught between the fiery rhetoric of Jackson and Sharpton and the evolving reality on the streets: Only a handful of people showed up at what was supposed to be a protest Monday morning.
Najee Ali of Project Islamic HOPE contemplated what to say to the lone news camera.
"How would it look for us to be up there now slamming these deputies," he said as he stood on a sidewalk outside Compton City Hall, considering whether he should instead criticize Jackson.
When the camera rolled, Ali was on cue. "An apology is not enough," he said. "We're outraged and will continue to be."
Privately, he had already conceded that in the court of public opinion, Baca had probably scored a victory.
Jackson's "hate crime" characterization seemed out of sync with reality. Of the 10 deputies who fired weapons, three were black, four Latino and three white.
By that afternoon, Ali had split ranks with Jackson. The civil rights leader's comments were, he said, "inflammatory, counterproductive and false."
"He'll say this stuff, then go on back to Chicago, and we're left here to try to work with these officers," Ali complained later.
Indeed, within days, Jackson and Sharpton were gone, headed for Mexico to meet with President Vicente Fox over remarks he had made about blacks that were considered disparaging.
Sheriff's New Tactic on Shooting: Contrition