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RIP: Johnnie Cochran

By TChris, Section Law Related
Posted on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 04:21:16 PM EST
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by TChris

One of the great trial lawyers of modern times, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., died today of a brain tumor at the age of 67.

"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."

Johnnie Cochran earned celebrity status for his defense of O.J. Simpson, but he used his formidable talents both to defend the accused in criminal cases and to help powerless victims obtain redress for governmental abuse in civil cases.

He won a $760,000 award in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ron Settles, a black college football star who died in police custody in 1981. Cochran challenged police claims that Settles hanged himself in jail after a speeding arrest. The player's body was exhumed, an autopsy performed and it revealed Settles had been choked.

His clients also included Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, who was tortured by New York police, and Tyisha Miller, a 19-year-old black woman shot to death by Riverside police who said she reached for a gun on her lap when they broke her car window in an effort to disarm her.

He also represented former Black Panther Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. When Cochran helped Pratt win his freedom in 1997 he called the moment "the happiest day of my life practicing law."

Cochran brought style, intellect, wit, courage, tenacity, and dedication into the courtroom on behalf of each client he represented during a career that spanned three decades. He was fun to watch, making it no surprise that juries loved him.

The profession lost one of its wonders today. Rest in peace, Johnnie.

Update: Thanks, TChris for that wonderful tribute to Johnnie. The news articles on are beginning to flow in: The New York Times; Los Angeles Times; The AP on some of his high-profile clients and reaction to his death.

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    RIP: Johnnie Cochran | 35 comments (35 topical)
    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#1)
    by Jay on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 04:59:03 PM EST
    The only thing he'll be remembered for by me is freeing the "Butcher of Brentwood". With all the evidence in front of him, how could he sleep at night? He made a mockery of that trial and made defense attorneys look like a bunch of snakes.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:09:27 PM EST
    Hey Jay, With "all that evidence", why didn't the prosecution win in a cakewalk? Remember, it was the genius of the prosecutors that came up with the trying on of the glove!

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#3)
    by glanton on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:15:13 PM EST
    Yeah, that damned Cochrane, he ought to have stayed quiet about police corruption, racism, and evidence planting. There's nothing wrong with the government doing that stuff as long as they're sure the guy is guilty, right? Here we go. Just when we thought we wouldn't have to hear it anymore, now it's gonna be all over the damned media. Let the OJ whining officially begin. Again. Maybe some will be relieved, thogh, to be distracted drooling and ranting against Roe or homosexuals, at least for a little while.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:27:59 PM EST
    I didn't realize that he was sick. He was so visible. I know that Talk Left appreciates him as an advocate of the accused, but I'll personally miss his efforts to kick America out of its complacency regarding the consistent adoption of racial profiling by law enforcement; the continuing legacy of government sanctioned racism/discrimination; and (by winning the O.J. case) proving that Americans value their racial prejudices over substance. Still today, Americans everywhere (save a few objectivists, including myself) believe they know for certain whether O.J. killed Nicole & Goldman. Depending on the values of their individual subcultures; The opinions of whites and ethnic groups of every nationality, of every socio-economic stratus, and of every lifestyle fall into line around the biases of the Corporate Media who decide which light to use in the presentation of truncated/chopped-up soundbytes of information. "Down here in the south", their minds were pretty well made up the instant they found out the color of the individuals involved -- on both sides. I so wish that the "looks like a duck, talks like a duck" crowd could someday become the targets of their own reasoning. Goodnight, Johnny.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#6)
    by wishful on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:40:34 PM EST
    A brain tumor--what an awful way to go. Sympathies to his loved ones and friends.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:44:13 PM EST
    Lest we forget he also represented Pete Rose in a made for TV mock trial that was watched by no one besides Rose himself....and me. He will unfortunately be remembered as a spotlight whore.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:46:16 PM EST
    I don't agree with the previous comment. It was a big shock to learn of Johnnie Cochran Jr.'s death, since the Supreme Court had just taken up a case relating to him just last week; an AP report of Mar. 23rd posted on NY Lawyer here ends with the now obviously-ominous news, that Cohran hadn't attended the hearing. Now I know why. Thank you to T. Chris for posting his respectful account and the link to the re-filing of the AP news report on SFGate less than an hour ago. I watched the entire O.J. Simpson case and cable coverage of it in the wee hours of the morning after videotaping it every day, while I on campus at Cornell. At the time, hearing faculty talking about it at lunch, I was very struck by how many people who did not actually watch all of the televised court proceedings nevertheless deemed themselves competent enough to comment "definitively" on Simpson's "obvious guilt." Despite whatever was O.J. Simpson's actual guilt or innocence of the crime he was accused of and which many, perhaps most people now believe him to be guilty of (esp. since there has never been any follow up of his promise to find the "real" killers), having followed all of it so closely, I thought that the prosecution clearly failed to prove the case against Simpson "beyond a reasonable doubt." Simpson was justifiably acquitted in the criminal case against him, based on the police investigation and the trial. The criminal prosecution's failure to convict Simpson was due to the rigorous defense mostly against prosecutorial and police mistakes wrought by Cochran and the rest of Simpson's "Dream Team" (including, of course, Barry Sheck's brilliant DNA arguments), who all truly did their jobs. In my own view, Cochran was a defense attorney who did his job brilliantly. One cannot fault him for that. Every person accused of a crime in court is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Like it or not, that is our system; that is its strength (and, perhaps, from some people's perspectives, its weakness). Every defendant should be so fortunate as to have defense counsel as dedicated and passionate as Johnny Cochran Jr. The Simpson case taught a lot of America and the rest of the world about the value of a competent, dedicated, and passionate defense and the importance to each side of jury selection. Johnnie Cochran Jr.'s work as a defense attorney "in the limelight" provided an education in the law for the rest of us who are not lawyers by profession. I for one appreciated that particular consequence of that aspect of his "celebrity." And, let's face it, if it weren't for Johnnie Cochran Jr. and the adrenalin his most celebrated case injected into Court TV, MSNBC, and CNN, there would probably be no Greta, no Dan, no (wish it were so) Nancy and Ann, and no law blogs or opportunities like this one to make a comment on them.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 05:47:48 PM EST
    sorry--it took a while to compose my post and get the links in my post--"previous comment" refers to the first comment by "jay." Haven't had a chance to read the other comments yet.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 06:08:43 PM EST
    Johnnie Cochran's victory in the OJ Simpson case a decade ago proved a very important point. In America, the most important color is green. You see, had OJ Simpson been the average workaday joe, he'd not only lost the case, he'd be waiting to die on California's death row right now. I have a lot of respect for what Cochran did, and not just the big-name folks. He also did work for those with less prolific personal coffers as well. Rest in peace, Johnnie.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 06:12:47 PM EST
    Thanks, TChris, for writing such a moving and true tribute to Johnnie. He was also a gentleman. Whenever I saw him, he was always warm, gracious and had a flattering comment. I'm really sorry to learn of his passing, it was way too soon. For those commenting, please show some respect for this site and for Johnnie. If you don't have anything nice to say, move on and read a different blog.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 06:51:25 PM EST
    Didn't he die along time ago? what did he do? no sad, only joking, sad loss.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 07:13:45 PM EST
    All I have to say is "Tawana Brawley". Lawyers who are not above lying and slander don't get sympathy from me.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#15)
    by demohypocrates on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:10:35 PM EST
    Its very hard to mourn a man that so skillfully put a cold-blooded killer back on the golf course. The rat he defended still breathes but everywhere that rat goes people know. It must suck to go the grocery store and people know you are a murderer, and think you should be killed. Let him live that life. And to Johnnie Cochran - youmade some great stands for which I salute you, but your legacy is defined by standing by a murderer that walks amongst us.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:24:52 PM EST
    Not to be morbid, but I wonder whether the U.S. Supreme Court will still issue an opinion on the prior restraint case before it involving Johnnie Cochran as a party. A trial court had enjoined one of Cochran's former clients from speaking about Cochran and the Supreme Court was reviewing whether it was an unlawful prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment. Seems like a moot point now. Oh wait, I guess that was being morbid.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:28:42 PM EST
    While he did a lot of great work, he will be remembered most for the O.J. trial. And it is that trial which, I believe helped usher in prop 209 in California, the Republican revolution of 1994, and the continued degredation of the legal profession in the public's mind. For example, the Jackie the lawyer character on Seinfeld.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#18)
    by Joe Bob on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:28:58 PM EST
    What in the world did Johnnie Cochran ever have to do with Tawana Brawley? Are you sure you aren't thinking of Al Sharpton? Perhaps you have your negroes mixed up.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#19)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 08:47:33 PM EST
    Hail Maximus. Were we not entertained?

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 29, 2005 at 11:31:01 PM EST
    First, nobody but the murdered and the murderer really know what happened in the O.J. case. Second, if you're going to blame Cochran for getting O.J. off, you have to blame everyone else involved for not getting him convicted. Besides, most people made up their minds immediately about O.J...M.J., Baretta, Kobe, etc. In the court of public opinion, you're guilty until proven innocent...and maybe not even then.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 05:18:04 AM EST
    Yes, I did "have my negroes mixed up". The slanderers in the Tawana Brawley travesty were Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason My apologies.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 06:11:38 AM EST
    et al - Good grief. OJ was guilty, the famous glove scene was stupid. If you saw it, OJ had his hands spread as wide as possible, and the prosecutors didn't even bother to have him try properly. But it was good theater, and a brilliant comment by Cochran. I have always wondered if he knew what he was going to say, or if it just popped out. The acquittal was a classic case of jury nullification. All they needed was any excuse to let OJ go and send a message to the LA police that enough is enough. If the DA had been serious about OJ, he would have tried him in Hollywood, by a jury of his peers, and would have won in a walk. DA's fault. Cochran took what he was given and won.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 07:21:04 AM EST
    "Great trial lawyer"..heh he got a freakin murderer off is all......

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 07:32:42 AM EST
    deleted for profanity, once more and this commenter is banned from the site.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 07:48:46 AM EST
    It's too bad that so many people can only remember Johnny C for the OJ trial. The man did his job, and did it as well or better than anyone walking around. Fact is, he did do a lot for a couple of celebrities, but he was first and foremost a champion of civil rights. Only sour grapes, and a very thinly veiled form of hatred can take that away. OJ? SchmoJay. Some people will never be able to get over it, already. OJ walked for several reasons, and Cochran was only one of them. Read about some of his cases instead of learning all that you know about the man on TV. Jeez.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 08:29:07 AM EST
    What did we learn from this man? Well, the only time I ever saw him in action, he showed us that you can defend a guilty black man, simply by pointing out that he's black, so he couldn't be guilty. What a lesson! We should all be so proud. Nonetheless, RIP Johnny.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#27)
    by Adept Havelock on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 09:11:28 AM EST
    Goodbye Johnny. It's a shame that your legacy will be tainted in so many's eyes. How dare you point out the LAPD tried to frame a guilty man. You'll be missed by many.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 09:40:56 AM EST
    Johnny's spirit and tenacity will never be forgotten. It was Marcia Clark and her team that "lost" the OJ case. Johnny Cochran did his job, which was to defend his client zealously within the bounds of the law. He was a fighter. John Hart

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#29)
    by kdog on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 09:53:00 AM EST
    Adept...well said. If I had money and got in trouble, I would have called Johnnie. He was great at what he did. RIP.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#31)
    by jondee on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 03:10:42 PM EST
    The entire atmosphere was tainted with Rodney King fall-out, the LAPD's percieved racist and brutal legacy amongst the urban/black community and then, to add fuel to the fire, that genius Fuhrmann gives an interview in which he uses the N word repeatedly. Didnt seem like the D.A's "hearts" were ever competely in it.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#32)
    by jondee on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 03:15:06 PM EST
    MB - Such a savant you are when you stray from neocon talking points. Yeah,thats all you have to do to get black man off - works every time.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 08:31:07 PM EST
    off topic comment deleted. commenter will be banned if s/he repeats.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 30, 2005 at 11:24:01 PM EST
    Johnnie was a lawyer, remember that. Regardless of whether his defendant was guilty or not, it's his job to get him off. So stop beefing!! Would you have made the same comments if he and the defendant were white men???

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#34)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 31, 2005 at 03:03:07 PM EST
    33 comments, and NO mention of Geronimo Pratt. J. Cochran is a hero to American democracy for what he did in that case, everything else aside. His work exposing Cointelpro and getting Pratt released from his false conviction, was his 'happiest' moment in the profession, and for very good reason. An innocent man released, and the illegal connivances of the federal authorities and prosecutors EXPOSED. We need more like him. OJ be damned -- that's the profession, that's our system. Geronimo Pratt? That's an innocent man who went free because J. Cochran, Esquire, made the case and exposed the TRUTH. THIS is the kind of person who should get the Medal of Honor, not mass-murderers like Paul Wolfowitz *(p'tui). Hats off, Mr. Cochran. You were a credit to American democracy and freedom.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 31, 2005 at 06:06:43 PM EST
    "It's too bad that so many people can only remember Johnny C for the OJ trial ... but he was first and foremost a champion of civil rights ... OJ walked for several reasons, and Cochran was only one of them ... Read about some of his cases instead of learning all that you know about the man on TV ..." AMEN, AMEN, I say to that!!! "... Only sour grapes, and a very thinly veiled form of hatred can take that away." CORRECTION ---> NOT EVEN sour grapes, and a very thinly veiled form of hatred can take that away. Whatever accomplishments Brother Cochrane realized in his life will stand on their own merit It's people's "perceptions" of those accomplishments that can be easily disregarded. Who are we kidding? Talk about whining and bellyaching? I think it would be nice if we could have a remix of the trial, with Brother Simpson being successfully defended by a team of non-African American attorneys. I'll bet dollars to donuts, those attorneys would be viewed as being nothing short of all-deserving of their accolades. My family's sincere condolescences to Brother Cochran's survivors.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Apr 04, 2005 at 10:29:08 AM EST
    I totally agree with Ibasiwa! The man did a lot of good work during his time on earth. He was not OJ's conscience. He was his lawyer. He did a great deal of good work for his community before and after OJ. But then I guess, one set of rules for white supremecy and another set for the non-white inferiors! To all you bigots, let the man rest in peace. He was doing his job and he did it well.

    Re: RIP: Johnnie Cochran (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 12:03:11 PM EST
    You are off the subject. The man is dead and gone. You can't hurt him by nasty words. God is still in control!

    RIP: Johnnie Cochran | 35 comments (35 topical)