Word: cochran
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...budget amendment and observations about the odd January weather combined, the high courtroom drama was the big payoff. But those who had cynically decided in advance that the so-called trial of the century would be nothing more than an interminable media fest were guilty of, to use Johnnie Cochran's new favorite phrase, ``a rush to judgment...
Moreover, by the time Johnnie Cochran addressed the jury on Wednesday, it had become clear, not only to the increasingly agitated prosecutors but also to legal analysts, that the Dream Team is more than just highly paid, highly qualified and highly dedicated. Cochran & Co. unveiled an unexpectedly strong defense. They also demonstrated--by their stealth-witness gambit--that they are prepared to push this case to the very limits of legality. Says Gigi Gordon, a leading Los Angeles defense attorney: ``Those jurors are all sitting around in their little hotel rooms right now thinking, Wow, four guys in watch caps...
...money'' made it onto the screen--whether the result, that is, justifies the expense. In this trial, O.J. Simpson's money has certainly made it into the courtroom. Scrappy, overworked state employees appear to be just that when set against the silver-tongued, monied and remarkably personable defense lawyers. Cochran, chuckling modestly in a moment of theater that must have infuriated Clark and Darden, told the court last Thursday, ``We certainly don't refer to ourselves as the Dream Team. We're just a collection of lawyers just trying to do the best...
That best was impressive. Impeccably dressed as ever in dark blue, striped shirt and bold red-and-blue tie, Cochran sought to strike an immediate rapport with the jury. Spinning stories, addressing jurors like a loquacious, well-loved uncle, Cochran spoke confidently of his client's innocence, reeled out his favorite saying from Martin Luther King Jr.-- ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere''--and insisted that ``this case is about an obsession to win at any cost and by any means necessary...
...prosecution's seemingly damning points, Cochran offered counterpoints, many of them news to every listener. But it was a strategy not without risk. Cochran must now deliver the credible witnesses and solid blood evidence that he promised. He claims, for example, that there was blood under Nicole Brown Simpson's fingernails of a type that matched neither O.J.'s nor the victims'. (The prosecution has since declared that ``Cochran took one line out of a report given to him. There is a scientific explanation that you will see presented at trial.'') Cochran also said there was a woman...