I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all heard of the OJ Simpson case. OJ, “The Juice” Simpson, famed football star who won the Heisman Trophy, allegedly killed his ex-wife and her friend at her home. Well, despite the tempting discussion of the controversy over this case, this week we’ll actually be looking at OJ Simpson’s defense lawyer, Johnny Cochran’s closing statement within the trial. Not only is the closing statement full of real-time proof that the prosecution’s claims are false, but it’s also chock full with persuasive appeals. In utilizing hand gestures, a steady voice and pace, and eye contact, Johnny Cochran makes an extremely compelling and memorable statement, one of the lines becoming one of the most commonly known phrases in America, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”. A quick clarification about this statement before we move on, Cochran was referring to a glove found at the crime scene that the prosecutions says OJ wore during the murders, but during the trial, Simpson tries on the exact glove and it is clear it simply does not fit his hand. Therefore, Cochran expresses that the prosecution should acquit Simpson (drop the criminal charges).
To start off the closing statement, Cochran starts off slow and then within the same sentence increases his voice pacing in order to pull the jury in. He starts off slow to emphasize that he’s going to explain something extremely integral to the case, and then speeds up, but not to a pace that’s hard to understand, in order to grip the jury’s attention. This pace stays thoroughly steady for the rest of the (2 minute) statement because as he’s placing a cap found at the crime scene on his head in order to show the jury how it could not possibly disguise someone, he needs to explain the significance of his actions. The hand gestures are mostly utilized to move a piece of evidence on and off of
Cochran’s head, but when he’s not holding the cap, he only uses these gestures to guide the jury’s gaze back and forth between the cap and and OJ Simpson through pointing. He does this in order to solidify the connection between the cap not disgusting someone, and that someone being OJ. Lastly, his eye contact stays locked on the jury. He looks down at the cap in his hands, almost as if to emphasize how deeply he feels that it could not possibly disguise someone, but other than that, even when he’s pointing to Simpson, his eyes are locked on the jury which compiles them to keep their full attention on the closing statement. Lastly, Cochran is able to deliver an extremely memorable last line which makes his argument that much more effective. Listen to this specific part of the trial here.