BET Journeys Into Black with Johnny Cochran

Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr.[1] (/ˈkɒkrən/; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American lawyer and civil activist best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O. J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. He defended his client with rhymes like "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit!"[2]

Cochran represented Sean Combs during his trial on gun and bribery charges, as well as Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Stanley Tookie Williams,[3] Todd Bridges,[4] football player Jim Brown, Snoop Dogg, former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe,[5] 1992 Los Angeles riot beating victim Reginald Oliver Denny,[2] and inmate and activist Geronimo Pratt. He represented athlete Marion Jones when she faced charges of doping during her high school track career.[6] Cochran was known for his skill in the courtroom and his prominence as an early advocate for victims of police brutality.[1]

Cochran was born in 1937 in Shreveport, Louisiana. His father, Johnnie Cochran Sr. (1916–2018), was an insurance salesman, and his mother sold Avon products.[7] The family relocated to the West Coast during the second wave of the Great Migration, settling in Los Angeles in 1949.[8] Cochran went to local schools and graduated first in his class from Los Angeles High School in 1955. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1959 and a Juris Doctor from the Loyola Law School in 1962. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and the fraternity's 45th Laurel Wreath laureate.[9][10]

Legal practice
Inspired by Thurgood Marshall and the legal victory that Marshall won in Brown v. Board of Education, Cochran decided to dedicate his life to practicing law. Cochran felt his career was a calling, a double opportunity to work for what he considered to be right and to challenge what he considered wrong; he could make a difference by practicing law. In A Lawyer's Life, Cochran wrote, "I read everything that I could find about Thurgood Marshall and confirmed that a single dedicated man could use the law to change society".

Despite setbacks as a lawyer, Cochran vowed not to cease what he was doing, saying: "I made this commitment and I must fulfill it."[11]

Early career
After passing the California bar exam in 1963, Cochran took a position in Los Angeles as a deputy city attorney in the criminal division.[12] In 1964, the young Cochran prosecuted one of his first celebrity cases, Lenny Bruce, a comedian who had recently been arrested on obscenity charges.[13] Two years later, Cochran entered private practice. Soon thereafter, he opened his own firm, Cochran, Atkins & Evans, in Los Angeles.[2]

In his first notable case, Cochran represented an African-American widow who sued several police officers who had shot and killed her husband, Leonard Deadwyler. Though Cochran lost the case, it became a turning point in his career. Rather than seeing the case as a defeat, Cochran realized the trial itself had awakened the black community. In reference to the loss, Cochran wrote in The American Lawyer, "those were extremely difficult cases to win in those days. But what Deadwyler confirmed for me was that this issue of police abuse really galvanized the minority community. It taught me that these cases could really get attention."

By the late 1970s, Cochran had established his reputation in the black community. He was litigating a number of high-profile police brutality and criminal cases.[1]

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