Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., 1937-2005
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., left, and Carl Douglas, defense attorneys for O.J. Simpson, sing along with the Brookins AME Church choir in Los Angeles after being honored by the church as “Lawyers of the Year” in 1996. (Kevork Djansezian / AP)
Former Black Panther Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt is joined by attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. during a sidewalk news conference outside the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles in December 1998. Cochran said his greatest triumph as an attorney was when an Orange County judge reversed a 25-year-old murder conviction against Pratt. An appeal by prosecutors failed. (Nick Ut / AP)
Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., in 2001, describes how a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy allegedly shot and killed Dante Ramon Meniefield in 2001 at a Moreno Valley apartment building. Cochran filed a lawsuit in the death. (Bob Carey / LAT)
Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. speaks to the media outside the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta where he represented former Georgia Power employees in a discrimination lawsuit against the company in 2002. (Gregory Smith / AP)