Johnnie Cochran was an African American trial lawyer born in Louisiana in 1949. He beat the odds and become one of 2 African Americans to attend UCLA, which he eventually graduated from in 1959. He later earned a law degree from Loyola law school in 1962 and started his career as a prosecutor for the city of Los Angeles. Besides working as a trial lawyer for OJ Simpson, Johnnie Cochran had defended Micheal Jackson and Tupac Shakur as victims of police brutality.
Johnnie Cochran gained national recognition when he joined the large team representing OJ Simpson, who was accused of killing his ex-wife and friend. The primary tactic he used in the trial was to go on the offensive against the Los Angeles police department. Due to past cases of racism that the LAPD has displayed, Cochran needed to connect with the jury, and convince the jury that the police might have framed OJ due to discrimination. His line, "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit" references an instant in the case where a bloody glove was connected to the murder. The glove had literately not fit, so Johnnie cleverly used this play on words to sway the jury and to give a reasonable doubt which they would vote on. And so while this case is still weighed with massive controversy, and a vast majority of the population still believes that OJ is guilty, double jeopardy is an iron-clad rule which made OJ Simpson innocent in the eyes of the law.
I think that it is very interesting how he was able to spin OJs case into a civil rights case, despite OJ not even being really considered black due to his celebrity status. This is also proved by his treatment by the police, as they treated him like an important white person. OJ didn't even consider himself to be black, so he just uses his race when it's convenient for him. He did a really good job being able to spin such an obvious case into a win for him.
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