The Chris Moeller Archives

The trial lawyer of the century?

The death of Johnnie Cochran spurs to mind, for some, the lawyer joke that ends with the punch line-- "A good start." Cochran rose to prominence in the American legal system by defending celebrities such as O.J. and Puff Daddy. His flamboyance recalled the nation's premier legal defender of the first half of the 20th century, Clarence Darrow. Like Darrow, Cochran pursued a practice in criminal law defending a mix of political radicals and wealthy murderers. Both types of cases managed to keep his name in the national headlines.
Cochran said the case that meant the most to him was overturning the conviction of the Black Panther Party leader, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, who had been convicted of murdering a school teacher in 1972. The reversal came 25 years after the initial verdict.
I think Cochran's greatest contribution to America was focusing the nation's attention on the continuing racial inequality and police procedure. In the Simpson case, of course, but also through his representation of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant tortured by police in a New York City station house in 1997.
In 2001, Cochran came to Des Moines when his national law firm represented the family of Charles Lovelady, a bar patron strangled by bouncers at a city nightclub. A jury ultimately rejected Cochran's push for an involuntary manslaughter charge, ruling the death an accident, but the publicity led to the new law that required Des Moines bars and clubs to teach security personnel how to safely mediate disputes. It was the first such law in the country.
Cochran, like any legal defender, was often vilified for his defense of accused criminals. It's to be expected in a world where the court of public opinion rarely holds to the principle of "innocent until proven guilty." He made a legion of enemies because of his defense of Simpson, yet it was Judge Lance Ito's ultimate responsibility to keep that trial focused on the evidence. That circus is Ito's legacy.
You can hate the imperfections of the system, but there's a long legal tradition in the West that it's better for 10 guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be convicted. A study by the University of Michigan last year based on a comprehensive study of 328 criminal cases over 15 years concluded that there were thousands of innocent people doing time in prison. The same study showed that almost all exonerations took place in murder and rape cases. The difference in these cases: greater public scrutiny. In all areas of government, where the light shines in, there is justice. Like any good attorney, Cochran understood this. He brought a great skill into America's courthouses. He was a credit to a noble profession.

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CENSORSHIP WATCH : Apparently, movie theaters are now withdrawing films before religious bigots even get a chance to protest them. Roger Ebert wrote this piece yesterday.

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Just when you thought Tom DeLay couldn't get more laughable, it turns out he pulled the plug on his old man 17 years ago. William Saletan won't call him a hypocrite, but I will.

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This past weekend may have been the greatest in college basketball history. Four extraordinary games were played for a place in the Final Four in St. Louis.
Or so I hear. I'd like to say I saw more than two minutes of the whole action, but I didn't. Turns out my relationship with the NCAA Tournament this year was based solely on money. I'll say nothing more, except that I won't be spending any of my hard-earned money in the state of Oklahoma this year.

posted by CM @ 10:32 PM