Attorneys in Simpson case, Cochran and Darden, get in heated argument over ‘racist question.’ - O.J. Simpson trial; defense attorney Johnnie Cochran and prosecutor Christopher Darden
Darden angered Cochran when he asked Heidstra if he (Heidstra) had told someone that one of the voices sounded Black. Cochran emphatically objected to the question and Ito Sustained it. However, Heidstra continued speaking. That led to Ito yelling at him to “Wait! Wait!”
The jury was then ordered to leave and Darden defended his line of questioning by pointing out that an aquaintance of Heidstra’s quoted him (Heidstra) as saying one of the voices sounded Black and like O. J. Simpson.
Cochran angrily responded: “I resent that statement. You can’t tell by somebody’s voice whether they sound Black.
There have been several other occasions when Cochran and Darden have had major disagreements. Darden has been accused of being a pawn used by the District Attorney’s office because the jury is primarily Black and so is he.
The L.A. Times pointed out that Cochran and Darden have been at each other’s throats since the beginning of the trial when Cochran made the suggestion that Darden was added to the team because of the racial make up of the jury.
John Burrus, an Oakland, CA, attorney told the Times: “Chris took it (Cochran’s suggestion) personally. As a consequence, Chris has responded to every one of Johnnie’s jabs and innuendoes. Partly that’s because he has suffered in public stature in the Black community, when he should be receiving accolades as an able professional prosecutor. He wears his resentment over that on his sleeve. What he doesn’t understand is that you can’t win a public relations battle with Johnnie Cochran.”
O.J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran and prosecutor Chris Darden were recently threatened with contempt of court following a highly-charged courtroom debate over the issue of race.
The two, who had run-ins in the past, locked horns in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Lance Ito over the question of whether or not Darden was asking a racist question of a witness and the bigger question of whether or not one can tell if someone sounds Black. An angry Ito made the jury leave, warned both attornies and called for an immediate recess.
The latest incident began when Darden questioned defense witness Robert Heidstra, a neighbor of Nicole Brown Simpson, who claimed to have heard two voices arguing about 10:30 p.m. on the night Mrs. Simpson and her friend Ron Godman were murdered.