American Crime Story (TV Series)

100% Not Guilty (2016)

Courtney B. Vance: Johnnie Cochran

Photos 

Quotes 

• Johnnie Cochran : 1978. I just left private practice, gone back to the L.A. D.A., gonna be the first black assistant attorney in office. Gonna change things from the inside. Shit. That wasn't happening. Same old shit, same rigged system. Feeling powerless for the first time in my life. And then my first marriage blows up in my face. My children won't talk to me. I'm a failure at work, I'm a failure at home. I was down, brother. I was way down. Sunday, sitting on my bed, surrounded by dead-end paperwork and divorce lawyer bills, drinking beer... all right, maybe a little bit too much beer... feeling sorry for myself, watching a football game all alone, crappy TV. 49ers versus the Falcons. What I saw you do on that field that day, somehow, as I was watching, it became as if you were running for me. Driving up that field, crowded with adversity and obstacles, getting knocked on your ass and then popping right back up again. See, that's what I wanted to do out there on them streets, back home with my troubles there but couldn't. But you, you, you, you willed what you needed to do into being with nothing but grace.

  O.J. Simpson : I scored a touchdown that day.

  Johnnie Cochran : You did. And when they cut away to the commercial, there you were again, leaping through the airport for Hertz, breaking another barrier with charisma, humor, intelligence. A black man as the public face for one of the world's biggest corporations.

  O.J. Simpson : We lost that game.

  Johnnie Cochran : I don't remember that. I remember everything else about that game but not that. Because it didn't have nothing to do with what touched me. And when the game was over, I got the hell up off that bed and jogged the six blocks back to my office and got right back to work and haven't stopped and wallowed in self-pity since that day. You did that for me. Just like you've done for so many others, because you are O.J. Simpson. You are O.J. Simpson and you are an inspiration.

  O.J. Simpson : I am.

  Johnnie Cochran : You are.

  O.J. Simpson : An inspiration.

  Johnnie Cochran : An inspiration. That's who you are.

  O.J. Simpson : Yeah.

  Johnnie Cochran : You're a man who loves people, who people love right back. That's you. You're a fighter. You're a runner. And when you get knocked down, I need you to pop right back up like you know you can and keep going, because this right here, this right here, O.J. Simpson, is the run of your life.

• Johnnie Cochran : [Shapiro has been replaced with Cochran as lead defense attorney; Cochran sits with the defense team]  We lost the motion to suppress the evidence collected at Rockingham.

  F. Lee Bailey : It's like Ito has a thing against us.

  Alan Dershowitz : Don't worry. We'll file a motion to throw out the lab results.

  Johnnie Cochran : [Shapiro furiously enters and slams the door]  Great, Bob's here. First off...

  Robert Shapiro : Before we get into your agenda, let's get into mine.

  Johnnie Cochran : Bob, O.J.'s on the phone.

  Robert Shapiro : Good. Because we have some very pressing issues to discuss. Because there's some stinky fish in this room.

  [Holds up newspaper article, "Shapiro Benched By Cochran"] 

  Robert Shapiro : Everybody here knows we have to keep a united front. So, from now on, I am the only one who speaks for the defense team. I am the lead attorney!