Cochran Takes On Another High-Profile Courtroom Role

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. had agonized over an invitation to join the legal defense team for O.J. Simpson. The prominent Los Angeles attorney feared that their friendship might make it difficult for Cochran to represent the former football star in the double murder case against him.

“I thought about that a lot because I’ve never defended a friend before,” Cochran said Friday, several hours after he first appeared in court for Simpson. “But I think I can represent him objectively. And besides, who else best to be on your side but a friend.”

A friend, plus a lot more, say legal experts.

In Cochran, Simpson is getting a politically connected trial lawyer who has an impressive record of proving police misconduct and defending minorities. Simpson also is getting the services of a well-liked figure who is able to handle the accompanying crush of television cameras that comes with such celebrity clients as singer Michael Jackson and Reginald O. Denny, the truck driver severely beaten at the start of the 1992 riots.

“On the one hand, he is a friend of Mr. Simpson and it can be difficult to represent a friend in a capital case,” said Peter Arenella, a UCLA criminal law professor. “Onthe other hand, this is an extremely attractive and exciting case for a criminal lawyer despite its potential pitfalls. For someone who loves a challenge, what greater challenge can there be than defending someone in a trial that the entire country will watch.”

During the brief arraignment Friday at which Simpson pleaded “absolutely, 100% not guilty” in the murders of his ex-wife and her friend last month, Cochran said he experienced a media assault that surpassed incidents surrounding the child molestation investigation of Jackson.

“This was the most well-covered arraignment in the history of man,” he dryly noted.

In an interview Friday, Cochran declined to say how long ago and under what circumstances he had been invited onto the Simpson team, which is headed by Robert L. Shapiro and advised by such national heavyweights as Alan M. Dershowitz and F. Lee Bailey. Cochran described himself as a social and business friend of Simpson for years, “not intimate friends.”

Just three days before Cochran formally joined the Simpson defense, he and other African American community leaders met with Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti to discuss their concerns over whether Simpson could receive a fair trial.

That issue of racial fairness, some attorneys say, probably was important in Cochran’s decision to join the previously all-white legal team.

“People don’t want to talk about the race issue, but O.J. is a black man and Los Angeles is very racially sensitive. For him to have an all-white legal defense team may alienate some potential black jurors,” suggested attorney Edi M. O. Faal.

But Faal stressed that Cochran’s race is of secondary importance. “The primary issue is he’s a great legal asset. With one stone they’re killing two birds,” he said. “They have a fine legal mind who will appeal to all members of the jury.”

Faal last year defended Damian Monroe Williams, who was convicted of throwing a brick that struck Denny in the head. Cochran is representing Denny and three other riot victims in a federal civil suit that alleges the city did not provide them sufficient protection.

The symbolism of a black attorney seeking justice for a white truck driver beaten by black men was irresistible to Cochran, his friends say. It also appealed to actor Denzel Washington, who consulted with Cochran in researching his role as the black attorney for the AIDS-stricken white plaintiff in the film “Philadelphia.”

Cochran, 56 and a resident of the mainly white Los Feliz district, said he joined the Simpson team “not as an African American but as a lawyer.” Still, he acknowledged that his courtroom presence may reassure jurors and spectators sensitive to the race issue.

The main questions raised about Cochran’s involvement revolve around how much time he can devote to the Simpson case and whether the expanded team will be too unwieldy. In the past, Cochran’s critics objected to what they contended was a conflict of interest in his serving as a Los Angeles Airport Commission member from 1981 to 1993----while at the same time suing the city on behalf of his clients.

Cochran and his wife, Dale, a marketing analyst, were hosts of a fund-raiser for former Mayor Tom Bradley that was attended by people who did business with the airport. Cochran insisted that he never knowingly solicited contributions from them. In 1992, the district attorney’s office ended an investigation of Cochran and other Bradley appointees without filing any charges of corruption.

Louisiana-born, Cochran graduated from Los Angeles High School and UCLA and earned his law degree from Loyola University. He served as a deputy Los Angeles city attorney from 1963 to 1965 and later made a name representing minority victims of alleged police brutality at a time when the city was still reeling from the Watts riots.

From 1978 to 1981, he was an assistant district attorney, ranking third in that huge office and helping to create a special “roll-out” team to investigate officer-involved shootings.

His subsequent practice has paid off well; he drives a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. His Wilshire Boulevard firm, which bears his name alone, employs 11 attorneys.

In a statement released through his spokesman, Garcetti, who once worked under Cochran in the district attorney’s office, said Cochran “is a great trial lawyer. He has had a great deal of success in defending criminal cases.”

Former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian said Cochran’s rapport with jurors is key to his success. “He’s certainly seen and lived a lot of life in Los Angeles,” Philibosian said. “So in addition to his courtroom skills, he has tremendous understanding of people.”

One prominent local criminal lawyer, who asked not to be identified, said he thought Cochran took on the Simpson case only after being assured that he would have final say on tactics even if that is not publicly apparent.

Similarly, attorney Harland W. Braun said it would have been better if Cochran had joined the Simpson team earlier. Any coordination problems had better be worked out quickly, Braun noted. “You can’t have decisions by committee. If Johnnie comes in, they’ll make it look like they’re co-counsel for diplomatic reasons. Then Johnnie will take over. Johnnie is a good diplomat.”

Cochran insists the teamwork will be smooth. “Egos will be melded for the greater good, and the greater good is providing the most effective representation for Simpson,” he said. While Cochran said his own role is not fully defined yet, he stressed that Shapiro will remain the lead attorney.

Cochran said the Jackson investigation and the Denny case will not interfere with the Simpson trial, which is expected to begin in September.

The Denny civil rights trial, set for October, could be delayed, Cochran said. Jackson, he said, will not be indicted and in the small chance that he is, the case would not be heard for a year or so.

Howard Weitzman, the other attorney representing Jackson, said Friday that he talked with Cochran extensively about the Simpson case. The main obstacle to Cochran’s joining that defense team was his friendship with Simpson, Weitzman said. “I think Johnnie agonized over it tremendously,” he added. “I believe Mr. Simpson prevailed on him.”

Times staff writers Carla Hall and Henry Weinstein contributed to this story.