He had fought (and won) many cases showcasing his charisma and brilliance and became a household word when he got O.J. Simspson off — and today Johnnie Cochran is dead:
Famed attorney Johnnie Cochran, 67, perhaps best known for his defense of O.J. Simpson, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles.
“Johnnie Cochran was a loving, heartful human being who cared about everybody,” said Pastor William Epps of the Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles, which Cochran attended for 18 years.
Cochran had been in a hospice suffering from a neurological problem, Epps said.
Simpson told CNN: “I loved him as a good Christian man. I look at Johnny as a great Christian. I knew him as that. He was a great guy.”
Simpson said he last saw Cochran at an L.A. Lakers basketball game a few months ago and found the flamboyant lawyer to be in good spirits. “We were praying for him then, and I still am,” Simpson said.
Indeed, Cochran was a famous lawyer for years but it was only when he got Simpson off murders charges — and freed OJ up to begin a relentless seach for for his wife’s real killer on the world’s best golfcourses, resorts and restaurants — that he became nationally defined. He was loved by those who felt OJ was being railroaded, and reviled by many of those who felt OJ could find the real killer by looking in his mirror.
Yet there was one side of Cochran that came across strongly today: it was watching Dan Abrams on MSNBC’s The Abrams report repeatedly grieve on camera for Cochran, who hosted an early cable television program with him. As a person, Cochran was liked by many. As a lawyer, he was the quintessential professional — the lawyer anyone would want if they wanted to hire the best, most charismatic and slickest attorney to get them off.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.