School named after Johnnie Cochran

CNN.com/Reuters ^ | January 26, 2006 | na

[zaxxon]

Los Angeles has renamed a public school after Johnnie Cochran, the late criminal defense lawyer who helped clear "Trial of the Century" murder defendant O.J. Simpson.

School district officials voted unanimously for the name change Tuesday, saying Cochran, who attended the former Mt. Vernon Middle School as a boy, was an "extraordinary, superb lawyer with movie-star celebrity status."

But the sister of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, whom the former star football player and actor was charged with stabbing and slashing to death, said she was stunned by the move.

"It's in bad taste," Denise Brown told Reuters. "Yeah, he was a great defense attorney. But what about your moral obligation to children and society?"

Cochran, who died last year of a brain tumor at age 67, was the lead attorney for Simpson.

He accused Los Angeles police of framing his client because he was black and famously told the jury, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," in reference to a bloody glove found at Simpson's house.

Simpson was charged with the 1994 killing of his ex-wife and her friend, Ron Goldman, in a court case dubbed the "Trial of the Century."

He was acquitted for the murders in 1995 in a verdict that deeply split the country along racial lines.

[Junior]

Unfortunately, the atheletic department has had some problems with the baseball equipment. Seems the gloves don't fit...

[JRios1968]

Dear Los Angeles County:
Why not name a school after me?

Sincerely

Darva Conger

PS: Stop reading my posts, I want my life back!

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

Dear Jim,

I would like to know why the school was NOT named after me.

Sincerely,

Larry Hagman's Liver...

[JRios1968]

Man, we can keep this going all night long!

[MikefromOhio]

hehe yes we can :)

[JRios1968]

I wonder how many schools they would need for just Shawn Kemp's kids.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

what about all of Calvin Murphy's kids?

LOL

or Dr. J's?

[thefactor]

you are correct. however, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. johnnie didn't win the case, the DA lost it. i know it's a cliche, but i would rather have guilty people going free than innocent people in prison.

as for the teddy bundy reference, i would feel the same way if OJ had a school named after him. but johnnie was a lawyer. i know if i was accused of double murder, i would want a vigorous defense. and that is what he provided. although i could not stand him, i have to respect him.

[JRios1968]

You would also need an entire town for all the women Wilt Chamberlain laid the wood to...

[jordan8]

Anti-racism is a racist code-phrase for anti-white. The only thing more jaw dropping than the open hypocrisy of the system is the sheer shaky-kneed determination of conservatives not to publicly notice it. Cochran and his dream team concocted a defense based solely on racial solidarity, the sort of defense the establishment condemns when it was used in Mississippi in the 1950s, but makes Cochran a hero today. The whole trial was a classic of politically correct racism, from its unrepresentative overwhelmingly black jury, to it spineless and clueless Asian judge, to its brainless female prosecutor and her equally useless black assistant; as much a show trial as anything put on in Moscow in the 1930s.

[timpad]

Dear LA County,

You can't name a school after him! He's been out doing coke for three days with Pedro Guerrero!

Sincerely,

Orenthal

War finding The Real Killers on the back nine.

[mtbopfuyn]

Kardashian died of esophageal cancer Sept 2003. He faced an ethics probe when he expressed doubts about OJ's innocence. I think he knew he was going to die and did it as a way to clear his conscience.

Thanks. Hadn't heard that, but I knew he knew he had participated in something very very wrong. Guess he did what he could, but OJ is still out playing golf.