Johnnie Cochran
During the OJ Simpson trial ten year ago I became infatuated with Johnnie Cochran, who died Monday of a brian tumor at 67. And with Marcia Clark, the prosecutor with whom he went mano a mano in Judge Ito's courtroom.
How is it that a white, late age, middle class American male would have become embroiled in a tabloid extravaganza?
First of all, I was on sabbatical from my job. Living in Charleston where my wife wanted to go to take part in the historic restoration movement, and I to try out writing as my life's vocation. Because Charleston time is three hours earlier than LA time, I could finish several hours of writing, get myself a hot dog, and settle in for a couple of hours of testimony in the trial.
I loved watching Johnnie Cochran and Marcia Clark spar. Marcia never really had a chance. I think she knew it. Johnnie held all the cards. He knew it. It was much more than a trial. It was some mysterious moment of geological shift in American culture. That's the way Johnnie played it, while Marcia was stuck with trying an accused murderer.
Johnnie was brilliant, outrageous. "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," he rapped as OJ pretended to struggle to put on the gloves found at the murder scene, making them look too small for him.
Marcia looked disgusted, laughed scornfully through all the courtroom theatrics.
Everything changed in that courtroom. Or perhaps it was that what happened in that courtroom showed that everything had already changed. We guardians of the old morality cluck our tongues and deplore the disappearance of morality and standards. Reality is a bitter pill to swallow.
How is it that a white, late age, middle class American male would have become embroiled in a tabloid extravaganza?
First of all, I was on sabbatical from my job. Living in Charleston where my wife wanted to go to take part in the historic restoration movement, and I to try out writing as my life's vocation. Because Charleston time is three hours earlier than LA time, I could finish several hours of writing, get myself a hot dog, and settle in for a couple of hours of testimony in the trial.
I loved watching Johnnie Cochran and Marcia Clark spar. Marcia never really had a chance. I think she knew it. Johnnie held all the cards. He knew it. It was much more than a trial. It was some mysterious moment of geological shift in American culture. That's the way Johnnie played it, while Marcia was stuck with trying an accused murderer.
Johnnie was brilliant, outrageous. "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," he rapped as OJ pretended to struggle to put on the gloves found at the murder scene, making them look too small for him.
Marcia looked disgusted, laughed scornfully through all the courtroom theatrics.
Everything changed in that courtroom. Or perhaps it was that what happened in that courtroom showed that everything had already changed. We guardians of the old morality cluck our tongues and deplore the disappearance of morality and standards. Reality is a bitter pill to swallow.
posted by Blayney at 1:59 PM
3 Comments:
Johnnie was a good guy, unfortunatly I did not realize it until his death when I saw more information about his life. Good post.
--AJ
He was a fascinating, multi-layered man. In many ways he represented the best and worst of our culture. But most of all he seemed to understand the subtleties of the culture which made him a hell of a good lawyer for OJ who would perhaps other wise be in jail for life. We tend, understandably, to concentrate on whether or not OJ was guilty. Our justice system holds that it is better to let a guilty person go free than to convict an innocent person. Weighing the system on the side of innocence is, I believe the genius of American justice. I suspect, if we were designing it today, we would never design it this way.
I disagree. I think the invention of a totally new "justice system" would place even more emphasis on the presumption of innocence and the protection of the accused.
USA could lead the way with new justice standards that don't depend totally on our judges to rewrite laws that are so inadequate in many cases, following "precedent" not sound moral values.
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