Star Clients Mourn Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie Cochran Jr.'s most famous clients - O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson - joined civil rights figures and Hollywood stars at the lawyer's funeral Wednesday, remembering Cochran's legal skills and his commitment to the people he represented, including the "no Js," as Cochran once called them: ordinary folks who didn't make headlines but did need his help.
Cochran, 67, died March 29 of an inoperable brain tumor at his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with the tumor in December 2003.
"He didn't just love justice or admire justice - he did justice, he achieved justice, he fought for justice, he made it happen," said Mayor James Hahn, the former city attorney and a Cochran friend.
"We didn't clap when the acquittal of Simpson came for O.J. We were clapping for Johnnie," the Rev. Al Sharpton told the packed West Angeles Cathedral, drawing applause from a throng that ranged from the Rev. Jesse Jackson to Michael Jackson and his attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr.
"We were clapping because for decades our brothers, our cousins, our uncles had to stand in the well with no one to stand up for them. And finally a black man came and said, 'If it don't fit - you must acquit,'" Sharpton said, referring to Cochran's famous quote from Simpson's trial about a glove found at the murder scene.
The line drew a roar from the throng, which also heard from other figures in Cochran's life, including two other members of the Simpson "dream team," Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck.
The line was on the back of T-shirts being sold for $10 outside the church, where 5,000 people were expected to attend the funeral. The shirts had a picture of Cochran on the front with the words: "Freedom and justice."
Colorful and eloquent, Cochran became a legal superstar after helping clear Simpson during a sensational murder trial.
"Johnnie fought for his clients," Simpson told reporters outside the cathedral. "He was just a good friend, a good Christian man and a great lawyer."
Jesse Jackson called Cochran "the tallest tree in our legal forest. ... The national stage did not make Johnnie, it revealed him."
The range of mourners reflected Cochran's work in high-profile civil rights cases and high-glamour trials. Also paying respects were such celebrities as Stevie Wonder and Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
"We've known him for representing O.J. and Michael, but he was bigger and better than that," Johnson said outside. "He represented people you've never heard of."
In a tribute advertisement published in the Los Angeles Times, former colleagues called attention to a lesser-known case — Cochran's advocacy for people affected by 1921 race riots in Tulsa, Okla.
"We will continue the struggle in his memory and honor," said the ad from the Center for Racial Justice. A federal appeals court last year denied an effort to reinstate the group's lawsuit over the riots, saying the statute of limitations had expired.
"Johnnie was to this era what Thurgood Marshall was to the era before him," Sharpton said, referring to the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice. "The press does not understand why thousands are here. But you would've had to be someone stopped by a cop only because of your skin color to know why we love Johnnie Cochran."
Also among the mourners were actress Angela Bassett, Reps. Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel, and federal Judge Consuelo Marshall, who went to high school with Cochran.
Cochran's other high-profile clients included Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, football great Jim Brown, actor Todd Bridges, and rappers Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
Combs recounted begging Cochran for help after his arrest in 1999 on charges stemming from a Manhattan nightclub shooting. He was later acquitted.
"Because of him I get to see my kids, I get to see my mother and I get to make music and be here with you all today," Combs said.
In 1997, Cochran won freedom for Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a former Black Panther who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. The attorney called the moment "the happiest day of my life practicing law."