United States celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran, who shot to worldwide fame as head of the legal team that got OJ Simpson acquitted of murder, died on Tuesday at the age of 67, his family said.
The larger-than-life Cochran died at his home in Los Angeles of an inoperable brain tumour. His wife, Dale, and his family appealed for him to be remembered as more than just the lawyer who got Simpson off murder charges.
”Certainly Johnnie’s career will be noted as one marked by celebrity cases and clientele,” the 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.”
Simpson joined the chorus of mourners paying tribute to Cochran, who made his career by fighting alleged injustice by police in Los Angeles.
”People will remember Johnnie for the outcome of my trial, but I will remember him as a family man and a good Christian man,” the former football star and actor said in a statement.
”Johnnie best represents what’s good in the system. As a professional, he is as good as it gets,” he said.
Last May, Cochran’s firm revealed he had been released from hospital after being treated for an undisclosed neurological condition, and he told The Los Angeles Times in September that he had a brain tumour.
Cochran shot to fame when he played what became known as the ”race card” during the 1995 trial of African-American star Simpson, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her lover, Ronald Goldman.
During what was dubbed the celebrity trial of the century, Cochran famously told jurors: ”If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” referring to the killer’s glove that Simpson failed to fit to his hands.
During the trial, which was televised live across the US, Cochran and his team suggested that Simpson was being targeted by police because he was a black celebrity. The jury acquitted Simpson.
Cochran became an icon of late 20th-century American popular culture and was parodied on television comedies such as Seinfeld. He was also frequently mentioned in Hollywood films.
He represented celebrity clients including Simpson, rapper Sean ”P Diddy” Combs and Michael Jackson.
Jackson, who is on trial in California for child molestation and has claimed he is the victim of a conspiracy against black luminaries, said he is deeply saddened by Cochran’s death.
”Johnnie Cochran was a true gentleman who embodied class, brilliance, honesty and integrity,” Jackson said.
”His fight for justice transcended colour, age or economic status. So many have been touched by his life of service as well as his infectious smile and personality. Johnnie Cochran was a great humanitarian. I loved him, and I will miss him. I am proud to have called him my friend,” Jackson said.
But Cochran was challenging the Los Angeles Police Department’s misconduct long before he chose to lead the defence of Simpson, representing the wife of a black motorist killed during a police stop in the 1960s.
His clients were not always black. He unsuccessfully represented Reginald Denny, the white trucker beaten by a mob during the 1992 riots that were sparked in Los Angeles when police officers accused of assaulting black motorist Rodney King were acquitted.
Cochran contended that the trucker’s civil rights had been violated because police did not do their jobs when they withdrew from the riot-stricken area of the second-largest US city. — AFP
