Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr. (October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was a high-profile lawyer and civil activist known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. He defended his client with rhymes like "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit!" He represented Sean Combs during his trial on gun and bribery charges, as well as Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Stanley Tookie Williams, Todd Bridges, football player Jim Brown, Snoop Dogg, Riddick Bowe, Reginald Oliver Denny, Marion Jones, and Geronimo Pratt. He was known for his skill in the courtroom and his prominence as an early advocate for victims of police brutality. He was born in 1937 in Shreveport. His father, Johnnie Cochran Sr. was an insurance salesman and his mother sold Avon products. The family relocated to Los Angeles. He went to local schools and graduated first in his class from Los Angeles High School. He earned a BA in business economics from UCLA and a JD from the Loyola Law School. He was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and the fraternity's 45th Laurel Wreath laureate. He took a job in Los Angeles as a deputy city attorney in the criminal division. He prosecuted one of his first celebrity cases, Lenny Bruce, a comedian who had recently been arrested on obscenity charges. He entered private practice. He opened his firm, Cochran, Atkins & Evans, in Los Angeles. In his first notable case, he represented an African-American widow who sued several police officers who had shot and killed her husband, Leonard Deadwyler. Though he lost the case, it became a turning point in his career. He realized the trial itself had awakened the black community. He wrote in The American Lawyer, "those were extremely difficult cases to win in those days. But what Deadwyler confirmed for me was that this issue of police abuse galvanized the minority community. It taught me that these cases could get attention." He had established his reputation in the African American community. He was litigating several high-profile police brutality and criminal cases. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #kappaalphapsi https://www.instagram.com/p/CjNifFqr6wQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
