He was 67. By the time Simpson was acquitted, Cochran and co-counsel Shapiro were on the outs. They're emitting electromagnetic radiation too. Yes. KHURANA: Well, it tells us that we need to be very careful if we're looking to find answers to what might be causing problems. I think it's, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, I use a cell phone all the time. Cochran filed a civil suit on behalf of Deadwyler's family; though he lost, the attorney was nonetheless inspired to take on police abuse cases over the ensuing years. [9] Prison [ edit] This is the early '80s. GUPTA: Ionizing is like the x-rays and things like that. I keep coming back to it. Cochran challenged police claims that Settles hanged himself in jail after a speeding arrest. We know that it causes lung cancer by the statistical rate. A brain tumor killed the famed attorney and father of three at the age of 67. WebPortrayed by. But I think now most of the people who actually do research on brain cancer causes are very skeptical that cell phones cause brain cancer. ", "It was fun. -- Dr. Black. Anthony Mackie and Johnnie Cochran. It's a form of energy. I would not want to be a heavy user of a mobile phone. No one mentioned any study demonstrating the efficacy of either ear pieces or holsters, nor apparently considered whether radiating the region of the hips and sexual organs is preferable to radiating the brain. First, Dr. Schwartz, we don't even know how we think. They don't recommend carrying a phone in your breast pocket. A parody of Johnnie Cochran, he appears in the series' seventh through ninth seasons as Cosmo Kramer 's lawyer. KING: Dr. Black will be returning. A judge reportedly issued the warrant on Thursday, Most people do. I use it on the speaker phone mode. D. COCHRAN: Um-hmm. BLACK: I actually received a call from Johnnie's assistant, as Dale indicated, concerned about his difficulty with memory and also some difficulty with speech. While we're waiting ten years to find out whether radiating RFs into the head (or the area adjacent to the genitals) is good or bad, should we suffer the inconvenience of minimizing cell phone use? This was the question that Larry King posed this week to Dena Cochran, the widow of Johnnie Cochran (who died of the disease), as well as to a group of five doctors. D. COCHRAN: That's all right. The main point is that if one is concerned about the emissions from cell phones, you can get rid of it almost entirely by a Bluetooth or ear plug. During their divorce, it came to light that for 10 years Cochran had secretly maintained a "second family," which included a son. That is a tumor that comes off one of the specific nerves in the inner ear. But in the Simpson case, Cochran turned the murder trial into an indictment of the Police Department, suggesting officers planted evidence in an effort to frame the former football star because he was a black celebrity. (END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Sanjay Gupta joins us. As prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden sparred with Simpson's defense attorney, the late Johnnie Cochran, Kim desperately hoped for a conviction. Cochran died in 2005 a decade before the upheavals that made police brutality and the unfair treatment of African American men by the justice system impossible to ignore. Thanks, Louis Slesin, for being with us. ob. If cell phone use was a factor, wouldn't there be evidence on that side?" Third, we know that the studies that have been done on brain cancer, and I'm going to distinguish brain cancer from acoustic neuroma, have largely been reassuring. Did he die at home? ", Cochran represented former Black Panther Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, cell phones and cancer -- is there a link? Watch. But first, if the manual says keep it in some sort of holster and keep it away from your ear, would you say the manufacturer is worried about something, Dr. Schwartz? Don't go away. Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the First Amendment case of Tory v. Cochran. But as a lay person, I have no knowledge -- scientific knowledge that there is a definitive link. Doctor Khurana, you say that the danger of cell phones could have far broader health ramifications than asbestos and smoking. They were not sure what the abnormality on the MRI scan demonstrated. GUPTA: Yes, I think so. And I think as part of that question, the World Health Organization has come to a point where it agreed about a decade ago -- or over a decade ago -- to host the Interphone Study Group. It was an historic moment because O.J. Tory v. Cochran (search) involves a bitter ex-client who was ordered to never display a sign or speak about Cochran again. So surgery, at least to try to remove all of the tumor that we could see on the MRI scan, was not one of the initial treatment options. D. COCHRAN: He died at home. This is animation of the brain, sort of looking at it from the behind, as you can see there. We know that brain tumors are the number one cancer killer among children in the United States and the second most common form of cancer in kids. It gives me an opportunity to represent people who I believe are innocent. Male. WebJohnnie Cochran's widow speaks publicly for the first time since her husband's death. Two quick things, Lewis. You know, one of the most common presenting symptoms in an adult is new onset seizure, as well as headaches. Simpson. ET) at his home in Los Angeles. Health, food and environmental journalist; radio host, Progressive Radio Network. So it's possible for a cell to get an injury and then migrate to a different location within the brain, as well. All rights reserved. Cochran, displaying his trademark style, came to lead the team, with some conflict rising among the attorneys amidst sensational proceedings. People that work in plastic factories -- as Dale said, I think one of the things that we're very excited about is not only trying to identify potential causes that we can eliminate, but also trying to find effective treatments and cures at the Johnny Cochran Brain Tumor Center. And I think the concern among other types of neurological problems, other than brain cancer, because, you know, a microwave antenna is very similar to a microwave oven. KING: On a regular basis, every day? As a youth, Cochran idolize Thurgood Marshall, the attorney who persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw school segregation in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision and who would eventually become the Supreme Court's first black justice. KING: Is this much safer than that? GUPTA: We don't know. And I stand by those comments. Absolutely not. And it was unrelated to the subsequent tumor that he developed. But as Larry has also said, if there's a known cause, and if there is a possibility of even mitigating the incidence even slightly, that would be helpful. Cochran died at his home in Los Angeles, his family said. And so we have a situation with a widely used technology in which we don't have very, very long-term follow-up, and we don't have very long-term follow-up of kids. 12, 2005. So we're really talking about a very different type of emission that is sort of the halfway between an FM radio and the microwave. Cochran, is perhaps best known for representing former football star Simpson during his trial on But there is a concern out there and I think people need to be careful. Simpson. Just to orient you, the eyes are going to be up here, the ear is going to be over here. So we don't know what long-term effects that will have on memory as our young adults age and other KING: So this is a cause of concern? D. COCHRAN: Attach an earpiece immediately. And KING: Did he dismiss that or get concerned? Next, do you believe cell phones are harmful? KING: Some have called cell phone use more dangerous than smoking. KING: Dr. Khurana, you want to respond? Then they came with this handle. Yet we know that we do. That's correct. BLACK: Well, I think that we do not have conclusive studies, at this point, to make a scientific conclusion that there is a, you know, a definite correlation. He won a $760,000 award in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ron Settles, a black college football star who died in police custody in 1981. Often times, these phone come with a holster. KING: Sanjay, what does the manual say? But I do want to say that if you look at the literature now, most of the data shows that there is no link. LOS ANGELES Famed attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. (search), who became a household name when he defended O.J. BLACK: But the brain has no sensation. BLACK: Later, as part of an experimental protocol, we went in and did surgery, yes. Here's the ear. KING: That's a simple solution to this, don't -- instead of your phones, attach an earpiece to the phone? He's in Canberra, Australia. He died from a brain tumor on March 29, 2005, at the age of 67. KING: They come with the phone. It provides sensation to the rest of the body. And, you know, I think, for the most part, people watching who use a cell phone will be just fine. Select the best result to Go ahead. Hardly anyone ever reads these safety manuals. The police pursued, leading to a nationally Research Paper On The Oj Simpson Case What, Dr. Khurana, does this tell us? Cochran penned the books Journey to Justice (1996) and A Lawyer's Life (2002). BLACK: Teenagers and even younger -- and they will be using cell phones for 20 or 30 years, we do not have enough data now to say that, you know, that is a safe device. We know from laboratory animals, for example, that, you know, the most effective way of inducing a tumor is to induce it in a young developing embryo, in a young developing animal. And, dad, I know that you are the best dressed man in heaven. They went down in this non- ionizing radio frequency as well, which was a good thing, I think, by everyone's admission. KING: Is that memory loss a major cause of concern, Dr. Black? We've reached saturation points. Brad has a phone in his breast pocket. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cigarettes have surgeon generals warning on them. D. COCHRAN: You know, it was a very quiet period of time. What do you base it on? But if you start to say well, look, wait a second, how about if it's 10 years, how about it's 20, 30, 40 years KING: We don't know yet. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: Remaining with us, Dr. Keith Black, chairman of department of neurosurgery at Cedar-Sinai, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent and a neurosurgeon himself, in Australia, Dr. Vini Khurana, neurosurgeon, associate professor of neurosurgery at Canberra Hospital. Dr. Black, do you have questions about portable phones, cordless phones? So, you know, tumors that are closer to that area may be more likely. WebIn a very very very best case scenario, like im talking Johnny Cochrin type lawyer and odee lack of evidence and a super soft hearted judge, the minimum sentence kay can get is 15 years from the judge if he considers all these mitigating We want to do everything we can to find out if there is a link. KING: But later you did use surgery, right? Legal Statement. ", In "Lethal Weapon 4," comedian Chris Rock plays a policeman who advises a criminal suspect he has a right to an attorney, then warns him: "If you get Johnnie Cochran, I'll kill you. I initially thought it might be an infection. It gives me an opportunity if I want to go into politics. Before doing that, I do agree with you. KING: What do you read, Dr. Gupta. I mean any function that the brain is responsible for can be a symptom of a brain tumor. That's what people should do. I don't know anyone who didn't like him -- defense attorneys who opposed him, prosecutors D. COCHRAN: Oh, yes. It doesn't fit. KING: So are you going to instruct the patient of your BLACK: I've instructed Dale D. COCHRAN: Oh, yes. "The clients I've cared about the most are the No Js, the ones who nobody knows," said Cochran, who proudly displayed copies in his office of the multimillion-dollar checks he won for ordinary citizens who said they were abused by police. KING: Is the Johnny Cochran Brain Tumor Center -- we were there at its opening. KING: We're going to -- we're going to excuse Dr. Black for a couple of segments. Their conclusion: we just don't know. KING: Dr. Khurana, how would you respond? So caution should be our guide. Pratt was convicted in 1972. For example, in Australia, there are 22 million cell phones and 21 million people. He attracted famous clients like .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Michael Jackson and led O. J. Simpson's defense team in the 1995 murder trial. It's not uncommon in science to have conflicting articles. KING: Thanks, Sanjay. Part of HuffPost Wellness. When that relationship soured, his mistress, Patricia Sikora, sued him for palimony and the case was settled privately in 2004.