Individuals can change a country.
That was the message attorney and UCLA alumnus Johnnie Cochran
gave his audience Monday evening at an event sponsored by the
Center for African American Studies.
Speaking before a full room at Haines Hall, 135, Cochran gave a
brief retrospective on his legal career before signing copies of
his new book, “A Lawyer’s Life,” co-authored by
David Fisher.
Cochran, best known for successfully defending former football
star O.J. Simpson on charges he murdered ex-wife Nicole Brown and
waiter Ron Goldman in 1994, has defended a number of high-profile
figures. His clientele includes rapper Sean “P. Diddy”
Combs and former Black Panther leader Elmer “Geronimo”
Pratt, whose case Cochran worked on until Pratt’s murder
conviction was overturned after he spent 27 years in prison.
Still, Cochran does not want to be thought of as an attorney for
the stars.
“People think all my clients are famous … I’m
interested in clients you’ve never heard of,” he said
after the event.
Though the “not guilty” verdict in the Simpson trial
was highly controversial ““ Simpson later lost a civil suit,
which had a lower burden of proof than the criminal trial, for
wrongful death filed by Goldman’s family in 1997 ““
Cochran has always maintained confidence that Simpson was
innocent.
“We had no reason to disbelieve (Simpson),” Cochran
said.
Both organizers and attendees considered the event a
success.
“I think whenever you have anyone of Johnnie
Cochran’s stature coming back to his alma mater … to
inspire youth to make a difference in the world … I think
it’s awesome,” said Robert Nvengayi, a graduate student
in conflict resolution psychology.
“It was a great event … you couldn’t fit more
people in the room,” said CAAS director Darnell Hunt.
During his remarks, Cochran credited UCLA for his personal
successes and discussed cases where instead of defending the rich
and famous, he worked with ordinary people, many of whom had police
brutality complaints.
“I always tried to look at cases that would change
things,” Cochran said.
In one case he mentioned, he sued the Los Angeles Police
Department after people had been killed by officers using
chokeholds. In 1982, the LAPD declared a moratorium on the
technique.
At the time, police chief Daryl Gates defended the use of the
tactic, arguing that if the chokehold were abandoned, officers
would resort to striking suspects with batons. For Cochran, the
switch in tactics was an improvement.
“If there’s a broken bone, I’d prefer that
than if somebody’s dead,” he said.
Cochran discussed other cases that captured national headlines,
including one he called the “worst case of police brutality
in U.S. history” ““Â the 1997 incident when New York
Police Department officers sexually assaulted a man with a toilet
plunger, as well as a 1998 shooting along the New Jersey Turnpike
that led New Jersey to admit it used racial profiling.
Still, there is one case Cochran regrets taking ““ a drug
case where the defendant confessed to Cochran after giving his
testimony.
“(The jury) found him not guilty and it made me
sick,” Cochran said after the event.
Cochran included in his book several of the cases which he spoke
on during the lecture. He said that since people in our society are
often defined by others, he wanted to provide those who would
define him with a “full record.”
So how does Cochran, a man lampooned on sitcoms, both admired
and hated by millions in a nation whose citizens frequently turn to
litigation while openly mocking the legal profession, want to be
defined?
“I would like to be defined as one who sought justice for
my clients,” he said.