Famed O.J. Simpson lawyer Cochran dies

LOS ANGELES - Johnnie Cochran, the charismatic attorney who became famous for his successful defence of football star O.J. Simpson on murder charges, has died in Los Angeles of a brain tumor, spokespeople said.

Cochran began his career as a crusader against police abuses, often in cases involving black clients, but is best known for the trial that won a controversial acquittal for Simpson on murder charges in 1995.

Simpson was accused of murder in the June 12, 1994, stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted despite what prosecutors described as a "mountain of evidence" against him.

Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman were stabbed and slashed outside her condominium in west Los Angeles. Prosecutors used DNA evidence to show that Simpson's blood was present at the crime scene and the victims' blood was on a glove at his Brentwood home.

Casting the case against Simpson as a conspiracy led by a bigoted cop bent on framing his client, Cochran's fiery oratory struck a nerve in a city still divided after 1992 race riots. He exhorted the mostly black jury to strike a blow against racism and police corruption by setting Simpson free.

When prosecutors asked Simpson to try on the gloves in front of the jury they appeared to be too small, leading to Cochran's famous line in his closing argument: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."

Like much of the trial itself, the resulting acquittal sharply divided Americans along racial lines, with polls showing most blacks believed the verdict was just while a majority of whites felt Simpson had gotten away with murder.

Simpson was later found liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman in a civil suit brought by their families, but Cochran had no role in that trial.

CUTTING IN LINE

In his 2002 autobiography, "A Lawyer's Life," Cochran seemed on some level to regret his involvement with what was frequently called the "trial of the century."

"It changed my life drastically and forever in ways impossible to even imagine. It obscured everything I had done previously. Everything," he said.

But he also acknowledged that the trial made him a celebrity in a town that prizes fame, which came with its perks -- like no longer having to wait in line at movie theatres.

Lawrence Schiller, who wrote a book about the Simpson defence, said Cochran's flamboyance stood out.

"He was so bold in the O.J. Simpson trial, by promising the jury 'I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this.' And he delivered something more powerful, something more important." said Schiller, co-author of "American Tragedy."

Cochran graduated from UCLA and Loyola Law School and worked as a prosecutor early in his career.

His first trial that caught wide attention involved the 1966 shooting of a black man, Leonard Deadwyler, who was shot and killed after traffic stop by a Los Angeles policeman who claimed self defence.

The officer never faced charges and Cochran lost a civil lawsuit against the city, but the case established him as a major civil-rights lawyer and helped launch his career.

"What (the Deadwyler case) confirmed for me was that the issue of police abuse really galvanised the minority community," Cochran said in a later interview. "It taught me these cases could really get attention."

A statement from Cochran's family and law firm said he died at 12:30 p.m. It said funeral arrangements would be announced at a later date.

- REUTERS