Cochran died of a brain tumor at his home in Los Angeles, his family said. Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who became a legal superstar after helping clear O.J. Simpson during a sensational murder trial in which he uttered the famous quote ''If it doesn't fit, you must acquit,'' died Tuesday. He was 67. The ''if it doesn't fit'' phrase would be quoted and parodied for years afterward. It derived from a dramatic moment during which Simpson tried on a pair of bloodstained ''murder gloves'' to show jurors they did not fit. Some legal experts called it the turning point in the trial. But in the Simpson case, Cochran turned the murder trial into an indictment of the Police Department, suggesting officers planted evidence in an effort to frame the former football star because he was a black celebrity. For Cochran, Simpson's acquittal was the crowning achievement in a career notable for victories, often in cases with racial themes. He was a black man known for championing the causes of black defendants. Some of them, like Simpson, were famous, but more often than not they were unknowns. After Simpson's acquittal, Cochran appeared on countless TV talk shows, was awarded his own Court TV show, traveled the world over giving speeches, and was endlessly parodied in films and on such TV shows as ''Seinfeld'' and ''South Park.'' In ''Lethal Weapon 3,'' comedian Chris Rock plays a policeman who advises a criminal suspect he has a right to an attorney, then warns him: ''If you get Johnnie Cochran, I'll kill you.'' Over the years, Cochran represented football great Jim Brown on rape and assault charges, actor Todd Bridges on attempted murder charges, rapper Tupac Shakur on a weapons charge and rapper Snoop Dogg on a murder charge. He also represented former Black Panther Elmer ''Geronimo'' Pratt, who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. When Cochran helped Pratt win his freedom in 1997 he called the moment ''the happiest day of my life practicing law.'' After Simpson, Cochran stepped out of the criminal trial arena, concentrating instead on civil matters. For a time, he represented high-profile athletes and music stars in contract matters. He remained a beloved figure in the black community, admired as a lawyer who was relentless in his pursuit of justice and as a philanthropist who helped fund a UCLA scholarship, a low-income housing complex and a New Jersey legal academy, among other charitable endeavors.
Of course, this "defense" was utter nonsense, as Manson family prosecuter Vincent Bugliosi meticulously demonstrated in his book Outrage: 5 Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away with Murder.
not a great guy (in that he would have been willing to get anyone off for the money) but a badass lawyer
