From the Archives: For the Defense: Johnnie Cochran’s whole career has been a prelude to what is happening in Courtroom 103

After graduating from UCLA in 1959, Cochran married Barbara Jean Berry, an elementary-school teacher. The marriage produced two daughters. In 1967, Berry filed for divorce. They reconciled, but she filed again in 1977, and the marriage ended. In both instances, she accused Cochran of assaulting her.

According to a declaration filed in May 1967, to obtain a restraining order, Barbara alleged that “On April 29, 1967, my husband violently pushed me against the wall, held me there and grabbed me by my chin. He has slapped me in the past, torn a dress off me (and) threatened on numerous occasions to beat me up.... “

Ten years later, she filed a declaration that said: “During the course of our marriage ... (Cochran has) without any reasonable cause, provocation or justification physically struck, beat and inflicted severe injury up on the person of the Petitioner.... “

Confronted with these allegations, Cochran’s body sags. His eyes close. He knows the implications of his ex-wife’s accusations, given the charges of domestic violence against Simpson. He shakes his head. His response is adamant, “I never, never touched her. You can talk to her.”

Cochran insists that his ex-wife wanted possession of their houses, both in 1967 and 1977, and that an accusation of violence was helpful in gaining a restraining order so that she could maintain possession of their home. The court file does not indicate a finding, but the judge did grant the order in 1977.

To obtain a restraining order, “it was necessary to provide the court with evidence of specific acts of assault, battery, intimidation and threats of harm,” says Harry Fain, an L.A. divorce attorney for 45 years and a former chairman of Family Law for the American Bar Assn.

“I have never touched her or hit her, and we are very good friends to this day,” Cochran says. “Those are 20-year-old statements for legal reasons. She knows they are not true and will be happy to talk to you about it.”

Several days pass. She gives me a statement: “I am very happy for Johnnie’s phenomenal success.”

“That’s it?” I ask.

She replies, “I have nothing more to say” I explain I am calling with the expectation she will back off, or at least soften, her accusations.

“I decline comment,” she says.

“Are you saying Johnnie did beat you?”

“I will not discuss it. I never said I wanted to be interviewed.”

Cochran groans when I repeat his former wife’s statement. “That’s a terrible comment,” he says. “Looks like somebody wrote that out for her. She probably called her lawyers. They said don’t say anything; they’ll get you for perjury. Nobody is going to try her for perjury.

“Here’s what I told her” ’There’s a bunch of allegations ... I didn’t beat you. We never had any fights or anything. Now I want you to answer those questions.’ She didn’t say anything. then she said, ‘OK, I’ll talk to him, but I don’t want to talk to him right now. Call me back later.”

In the course of my interviews with Cochran, he kept returning to his former wife’s allegations and continued to deny that he had ever physically abused her. By our final conversation, though, Cochran seems resigned that she will not make a retraction. Still, he says, shaking his head, he cannot understand why. “I always paid everything ... did everything. A lot of what I am I owe that woman.”

Cochran met his present wife, Sylvia Dale Mason, now 43, in 1981, and they married in 1985. A market research analyst for firms such as Mattel, Nissan and Toyota, she is “not Mrs. Johnnie Cochran,” says Patricia Schoneberger, who has known and traveled with the Cochrans for 10 years and who works as an airport publicist. “She is not riding on his fame.”

Cochran won’t quibble that he’s worth between $5 and $6 million. His holdings include his Los Feliz home, two beachfront condominiums in Marina del Rey and 16 apartment units near Downtown. He just invested in a Pepsi Cola bottling plant in South Africa. Cochran owns a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 450, a 1985 Cadillac El Dorado, a 1988 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, two 1994 XJS Jaguars and a Honda and Toyota for his children.

“I love nice cars, but my life is not just about material stuff,” he insists. “I give back to the community whenever I can.” His list of gifts includes a $250,000 donation in 1992 to help finance Cochran Villas, 10 units of low-income housing in Southwest Los Angeles; a $50,000 scholarship fund at UCLA for young African American men that’s named after his father, and a $100,000 contribution he made to the Tom Bradley International Center now under construction at UCLA. He also has contributed about $100,000 to refurbish the Second Baptist Church, where he has been a member for 47 years.

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