[highsider]

If the glove does not fit, you must acquit. You racist.

The man was obviously a good lawyer, though I think he tended towards cheap shots and catchy phrases rather than using actual law.

O.J was there - OJ should have kissed the corpse's ass, IMO.

[Jaynnus]

nope!

[ChrisNoF4i]

I'm sad to see the brother go.

[hohum]

Originally posted by highsider
If the glove does not fit, you must acquit. You racist.

The man was obviously a good lawyer, though I think he tended towards cheap shots and catchy phrases rather than using actual law.

O.J was there - OJ should have kissed the corpse's ass, IMO.

You need to look into some of his other cases... I used to be all pissed about the OJ case, I used to even say that case caused me to lose faith in the legal system. Now, when I go back and read the transcripts, damn was he good. He got the DNA evidence to seem questionable (because of TRULY questionable evidence handling on the part of the police) and he managed to bring a shade of reasonable doubt upon every peice of evidence. After going through the trial transcripts, I really do think that if he were representing Joe Bloe in the case instead of OJ, there still would have been reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors. Whether or not they would have acted on this reasonable doubt if the defendant was not as famous as OJ is another story.

In any case, he was DAMN fine lawyer, whatever you think of the people he defended. Most people don't know too much about his early career, but he wasn't always a criminal defense lawyer. He served as a prosecutor, as well as handling a huge volume of civil rights civil litigation.

In any case, I think he will and should be remembered as one of the best lawyers of his time.

[LM954RR]

Lawyers are scumm......Good riddings to another one of them.

[hohum]

Originally posted by LM954RR
Lawyers are scumm......Good riddings to another one of them.

Hope you never need one

[LM954RR]

Originally posted by hohum
Hope you never need one

Unfortunately, they are a neccessary evil sometimes. I'm sure, the day I need one, there'll be one there to overcharge me for their "services"........when and if i ever do.

[Nikon]

nope. fuck that asshole.....

[Degsy]

don't care about his death. There comes a time when a lawyer has to back away from the total innocence defense and plead for a life sentence instead of execution (OJ case in point)

[katana0215]

look into the Cornell Young Jr case in Providence

[highsider]

Originally posted by Degsy
don't care about his death. There comes a time when a lawyer has to back away from the total innocence defense and plead for a life sentence instead of execution (OJ case in point)

I'm certainly not defending either one of them, but a lawyer has to plead how his client instructs him; they don't get the option of talking sense into them.

I wonder if Johhny Cochran knew O.J. was guilty?

[hohum]

Originally posted by Degsy
don't care about his death. There comes a time when a lawyer has to back away from the total innocence defense and plead for a life sentence instead of execution (OJ case in point)

Yeah, unfortunately this is not how our adverserial justice system works. Defense lawyers job is to plead whichever best case his client gives him.

IMO, its still far better for one guilty man to go free than for one innocent man to go to jail. Both happen every day.

[Degsy]

Thay don't have to take the client.

Don't give me the crap that Johnny Cochran was 'just doing his job'. Johnny Cochran was a roach on the floor of humanity who used every card he could to let his obviously guilty client go scott free from a murder charge. Every juror in that case should not be able to sleep soundly for the rest of their lives.

Just my opinion of course, yours may vary.

derek

[hohum]

The fact is, Johnny WAS "just doing his job", and he did a damn good job of it as well. It was his job to use every card in the arsenal to get his client off, its what he SWORE he would do in serving as defense counsel. That's the job. It's just the way the system works. Sometimes, the "obviously guilty" do get off. But the fact is, that 99% of the time a prosecutor brings a case, they win, but the 1% of the time the defense attorney gets his client off, people piss and moan.

The system is based upon the fact that everyone deserves a defense. It doesn't work otherwise, especially given the power in the hands of the prosecutors. Like it or not, defense attorneys are yours, mine, and OJ's check against the police state we would become lacking the right to professional defense.

[highsider]

Originally posted by hohum

The system is based upon the fact that everyone deserves a defense. It doesn't work otherwise, especially given the power in the hands of the prosecutors. Like it or not, defense attorneys are yours, mine, and OJ's check against the police state we would become lacking the right to professional defense.

This is all true; however, I think we have reached a day and age where rich folks can literally "buy" their way out of a conviction.

OJ had his "Dream Team" of lawyers that billed several thousand hours of time at god only knows how much that were pitted against Chris Darden and Marcia Whateverthefuckhernamewas. It was basically not fair, as the Dream Team's defense was to spend whatever it took to poke holes in the prosecution's case. The prosecution didn't have the luxury of an open checkbook, and that coupled with that idiot Mark Fuhrman is what lost the case, IMO.

My point is, if you give a perfectly straightforward case, and give the defense an unlimited amount of money, and pit them against some state employed attorneys, the scales of justice have been severly rigged. Its no one's "fault" - its simply a flaw in our judicial system.

FYI - in the article I posted the link to, it does tell of some of the good things Cochran did, including freeing a Black Panther party member who had been wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years.

[LM954RR]

Well then....My opinion of him has changed.

He was a scumm bag who did one good (albeit racially motivated and self serving) thing.



Johnny cockring is, was and always will be a legend among scumm.

[Collision pro]

All lawyers suck...I hate them all!!

If anyone on here is one....well then you suck too!!

Just look at how fuck up the world is because of them. Everything you hear is sue...sue...sue and who makes the money scumbag lawyers, then you wonder why everything cost so much!

[bentbryan]

Originally posted by hohum
The fact is, Johnny WAS "just doing his job", and he did a damn good job of it as well. It was his job to use every card in the arsenal to get his client off, its what he SWORE he would do in serving as defense counsel. That's the job. It's just the way the system works. Sometimes, the "obviously guilty" do get off. But the fact is, that 99% of the time a prosecutor brings a case, they win, but the 1% of the time the defense attorney gets his client off, people piss and moan.

The system is based upon the fact that everyone deserves a defense. It doesn't work otherwise, especially given the power in the hands of the prosecutors. Like it or not, defense attorneys are yours, mine, and OJ's check against the police state we would become lacking the right to professional defense.

Very true. But you are ignoring the simple fact that lawyers do not have to take any case that comes their way. Obviously Johnnie was no sucker, he KNEW his client was guilty.

[highsider]

Originally posted by bentbryan
Very true. But you are ignoring the simple fact that lawyers do not have to take any case that comes their way. Obviously Johnnie was no sucker, he KNEW his client was guilty.

Unfortunately, thats not really how it works. If you're a defense attorney, you get a call from OJ Simpson (who was equal in the public's collective mind to Snow White at that point), he says "Help me Mr. Cochran, I've been accused of murder and I didn't do it."

You sign a retainer agreement to defend him, assuming that he is telling the truth because he is your client, and that is your job. At that point, you are basically married to the client; even if he confesses the crime to you, you can't tell a soul, and if you quit defending that client in the middle of a trial, you will likely be disbarred, effectively ruining three years of law school and a career.

Again, I didn't like Johnny Cochran. I thought his techinque of accusing people of racism and turning everything into a witch hunt was just pathetic. If you remember, Chris Darden made a complaint to the ethics bureau in Cali about OJ's defense team; they tried every scummy trick in the book.

But the fact that he defended OJ....well, that was his job. It was the way in which he went about his job that I thought sucked.

[Degsy]

If the defence lawyers of this world an AN OUNCE of sense about what is 'right' and 'just' in this world, OJ would have had to settle for a public defender. As it was, he had his choice of lawyers because of his checkbook.

There is giving someone a good defence and there is giving a jury a smokeshow to distract them from the truth and the central charges.

99.9999% of people in this country would have got life in prison on a plea bargain for that double-murder. Johnny Cochran's ridculous antics, OJ's money and a fucked up jury are what got that scumbag out and free. I actually have a conspiracy theory about the whole thing but I won't bore you with it here. I think it will come out in another 19 years when state and federal documents go public.

derek

[highsider]

Originally posted by Degsy


There is giving someone a good defence and there is giving a jury a smokeshow to distract them from the truth and the central charges.

99.9999% of people in this country would have got life in prison on a plea bargain for that double-murder. Johnny Cochran's ridculous antics, OJ's money and a fucked up jury are what got that scumbag out and free.

derek

Thats what I'm saying.

Now tell me of this conspiracy theory so that I can think of you in a bunch of years when it comes out on the news. I want to hear it.

[LM954RR]

Poetic justice (pun intended) dictates in this case!

Hope Johnny Cockring is enjoying all the money he made in his racist career.....oooooppps....he deead. Nevermind!...LOL


A moment of peace for the fallen scumbag please...continue.

[hohum]

Originally posted by Degsy
If the defence lawyers of this world an AN OUNCE of sense about what is 'right' and 'just' in this world, OJ would have had to settle for a public defender. As it was, he had his choice of lawyers because of his checkbook.

Come on, what defender of any sort in their right mind would have turned down this case? I sure as shit wouldn't have. Settle for a public defender? Heh, he probably would have gotten at least as good a defense with the all star PD they would have assigned this case. You forget, public defenders are the ONLY defense attorneys who get as much actual court time as prosecutors (if you are ever arrested for anything, your best bet for a criminal defense laywer is to hire one of the attorneys who does work for indigent defendants on a mostly full time basis, they know the courts better than almost any high priced option). OJ would have got the best of the best PD's and I would be willing to bet they would have put on much the same case, but most likely with less "show".

Originally posted by Degsy

There is giving someone a good defence and there is giving a jury a smokeshow to distract them from the truth and the central charges.

And who's fault is it that that whole scene went down? Was it Johnnie's? NO. If you wanna blame anyone about the "smoke show" blame the judge, blame the prosecution, but the fact that it "got in" surely isn't the fault of OJ's defense team, who's job it is to do ANYTHING they can to defend their client. The judge could have stopped that at any point, the prosecution could have objected more vigorously, but no, they played the "show" too. At ANY point in time, the judge could have put a stop to it all (ala the judge in the Michael Jackson case not putting up with his shit). If ANYONE bears the blame for how that trial went down, it was the JUDGE (and the detectives on the case who should have fucking dotted their i's and crossed their t's when doing such 'evidence 101' things as fully logging the evidence chain of possession given such a high profile case).

[/b]
99.9999% of people in this country would have got life in prison on a plea bargain for that double-murder. Johnny Cochran's ridculous antics, OJ's money and a fucked up jury are what got that scumbag out and free. [/b]

99.9999% of the population would have plead out, but if you even vaguely accept the hypothetical that it is possible for a preponderance of evidence of guilt for a given defendant to exist, and at the same time that defendant is completely innocent, then you want the Johnnie Cochrans of the world to exist. If you were in those shoe's you'd want to be able to hire the guy, even if you had to go bankrupt doing so, that is willing to put forth the absolutely most vigorous defense possible, because you wouldn't want to go to jail as an innocent man. Call it dirty lawyer tricks, call it what you will, but there is a reason for the standard of conviction being "proof beyond a reasonable doubt".

You and I can argue on and on about what is reasonable doubt in this case, but we didn't sit in the shoes of those jury members and no matter how you cut it, Johnnie did bring about questions of doubt (how "reasonable" they are is certainly an arguable point, and whether he brought them in an appropriate fashion, this is also arguable, but see above about the judge)

Don't get me wrong, I think OJ was/is guilty as sin. Do I fault his lawyer for doing what he was paid to do? Nope. Does it happen that a murderer gets off now and again? Yup, but I don't blame his defense attorney for doing his job... sometimes its a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it. In a few years y'all can piss on me for doing that job.

All I can say is if you were innocent of a serious crime and charged with it anyways, you'd want to have him around. (but we all know OJ is guilty as sin)

[hohum]

Burnin a big fat blunt for the old man J.C. right now...

POUR ONE OUT FOR THE HOMIES!!!

[LM954RR]

Originally posted by hohum
Burnin a big fat blunt for the old man J.C. right now...

POUR ONE OUT FOR THE HOMIES!!!

I think I'm starting to like you....dog.