I remember it as if it were yesterday. The Warden at work (my boss) called me into his office. For the past weeks we had been working on a couple of cases related to Flight 587's tragedy, and that morning I was swamped with work, so I really didn't appreciate getting pulled away from my desk to dig into yet another case; I had enough with the ones I had already been working with. Anyways, as soon as I got in his office he, without taking his eyes away from his computer screen, told me that at the end of the week we would be having an important visit from some lawyer from the US who was interested in working as our American counterpart in Flight 587's cases. He told me he wanted me to do some research on our new "associate" ASAP. The name of the lawyer: Johnnie Cochran.
Take into consideration I had special interest in Flight 587. First of all, as you all know, the plane was full of Dominicans and it was so close to 911 the first thing I thought when it went down was that it had been another terrorist attack. After a couple of hours passed, I got a call from someone (I don't remember who), telling me that my cousin's ex-girlfriend had been on the plane. They had been together for some years and eventhough she was going out with someone else at the time, we all knew that they would end up together; it was one of those love stories. Imagine my cousin's reaction when he heard the news. All he could do was stare at the TV and chain-smoke. When I went to his house, all his closest friends were there. All I could do was sit with him and watch him silently cry while remembering all the times they had spent together.
Anyways, back to the story. As soon as the Warden told me about Mr. Cochran, I immediately went into a frenzy. I just couldn't believe it! I had first heard of Mr. Cochran while he was working on the OJ Simpson case. I followed his work throughout the year-long trial and I came to respect and admire the man. It had nothing to do with whether OJ was guilty or not (for me, he was and is guilty as hell, but that's a whole other story), but with the way he conducted himself in court and the fact that he could convince a dozen people that they could not say beyond a reasonable doubt that OK had killed his wife and her friend while on a jealous rampage.
I came to respect him even more after I did the research. He was a self made man, who had come from the very bottom and had made a name for himself. Eventhough most recognize him as being OJ's lawyer, I couldn't believe the case load he had handled throughout the years and how many people he had helped.
When the day came, I was very excited. After their meeting, he was going to go around the office to personally meet the slaves who worked there. When I heard all the voices coming closer and the door open, my heart skipped a beat. My boss came to my desk and introduced us. I shook Mr. Cochran's hand! All I could mutter out was "pleased to meet you, sir". He was very nice (what I could tell from the 5.7 seconds I spent in front of him and his entourage) and said " very pleased to meet you too", smiled and was carried away to meet everyone else, while my boss was smiling at me because he knew how much I had been waiting for this moment.
"If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."
Godspeed, Mr. Cochran.
Take into consideration I had special interest in Flight 587. First of all, as you all know, the plane was full of Dominicans and it was so close to 911 the first thing I thought when it went down was that it had been another terrorist attack. After a couple of hours passed, I got a call from someone (I don't remember who), telling me that my cousin's ex-girlfriend had been on the plane. They had been together for some years and eventhough she was going out with someone else at the time, we all knew that they would end up together; it was one of those love stories. Imagine my cousin's reaction when he heard the news. All he could do was stare at the TV and chain-smoke. When I went to his house, all his closest friends were there. All I could do was sit with him and watch him silently cry while remembering all the times they had spent together.
Anyways, back to the story. As soon as the Warden told me about Mr. Cochran, I immediately went into a frenzy. I just couldn't believe it! I had first heard of Mr. Cochran while he was working on the OJ Simpson case. I followed his work throughout the year-long trial and I came to respect and admire the man. It had nothing to do with whether OJ was guilty or not (for me, he was and is guilty as hell, but that's a whole other story), but with the way he conducted himself in court and the fact that he could convince a dozen people that they could not say beyond a reasonable doubt that OK had killed his wife and her friend while on a jealous rampage.
I came to respect him even more after I did the research. He was a self made man, who had come from the very bottom and had made a name for himself. Eventhough most recognize him as being OJ's lawyer, I couldn't believe the case load he had handled throughout the years and how many people he had helped.
When the day came, I was very excited. After their meeting, he was going to go around the office to personally meet the slaves who worked there. When I heard all the voices coming closer and the door open, my heart skipped a beat. My boss came to my desk and introduced us. I shook Mr. Cochran's hand! All I could mutter out was "pleased to meet you, sir". He was very nice (what I could tell from the 5.7 seconds I spent in front of him and his entourage) and said " very pleased to meet you too", smiled and was carried away to meet everyone else, while my boss was smiling at me because he knew how much I had been waiting for this moment.
"If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."
Godspeed, Mr. Cochran.
2 comments:
I met the man quite afew times and he was as good a human being as anyone you meet could possibly be. May God have mercy on his soul.
ese caso fue muy triste, ahí murieron dos hermans de la mejor amiga de mami, y mami me arrastró a la funeraria cuando llegaron los cuerpos (que identificarlos fue una odisea). He ido a muchos funerales, pero el dolor ese día en esa funeraria era diferente.
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