Black jurors sit on juries every day and convict black people every day.
I decided I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 11 years of age.
I understand about this idea of terror and what it means to Americans and this idea that we can't just walk around free like we did; life has changed.
I'm a big believer in the fact that life is about preparation, preparation, preparation.
If it doen't make sense, you should find for the defense.
If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.
In this room we're all here together, but there's probably a lot of different views, people sitting here thinking, I don't own any slaves, all the slaves are dead. Why am I responsible? My family were immigrants, too.
It was time in America for African Americans to take retribution for the legal crimes that had been committed against them for almost three centuries.
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
On January 10, 1963, I was sworn in as a lawyer, so next January 10 I will have practiced law for 40 years, and I've loved every minute of it.
Since the Puffy Combs case in New York, I will not try any more criminal cases.
The only mention I'll make of the Simpson case is that it provided a sea-change for all of our lives. I'm still the same lawyer as I was before, but the opportunities were somewhat different and I was asked to move to New York, at least part of the time, to do a television show.
The president appoints the judges. Your lives and your children's lives can change by all of these appellate court judges who will be appointed who will reinterpret laws, and things can change.
We've got to be judged by how we do in times of crisis.
Graduated from UCLA; law degree from Loyola Marymount University.
Was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.
His catchphrase in the Simpson trial, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," became famous over the years. It derived from a dramatic moment during which Simpson tried on a pair of bloodstained "murder gloves" to show jurors they did not fit.
He was the basis for Jackie Chiles, the flashy lawyer played by Phil Morris on the TV series Seinfeld (1990). Even the initials are the same.
Known in Los Angeles as a brilliant trial attorney at the start of the 1990s, Cochran reportedly received only $100,000 of the multi-million dollar fee paid by O.J. Simpson to attorney Robert Shapiro. Shapiro acted as a broker for the defense, assembling the defense team and bringing in Cochran, F. Lee Bailey and Barry Scheck, all of whom helped save Simpson from what seemed, at first, to be a sure conviction for murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Though his fee was relatively small, the publicity generated by the trial was enormous, and before the trial ended with an acquittal, Cochran was world famous.
Was an L.A. high school classmate of Dustin Hoffman.
You can share a link to this page with your friend!