US: OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson joined a black celebrity guest list of mourners at legendary lawyer Johnnie Cochran's funeral yesterday.
Mr Cochran, who died last week of a brain tumour at age 67, became a household name in the United States while defending Simpson on charges that he murdered his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in 1994.
The former football player was acquitted after a sensational televised trial in Los Angeles.
During the trial Mr Cochran famously told the jury: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," in reference to a glove found at the murder scene.
Jackson, whose trial on charges of child sex abuse was in recess for the day, was represented by Mr Cochran in a similar case in 1993 that ended in a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement.
The pop star was among some 5,000 people at the funeral in a south Los Angeles Baptist church.
Rap mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, civil rights activists the Rev Jesse Jackson and the Rev Al Sharpton, actor Sidney Poitier, singer Stevie Wonder, record producer Quincy Jones and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy were also on the guest list.
The speaker's list included one of Mr Cochran's most notable clients - former Black Panther Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
Mr Cochran, a Louisiana native who was the great-grandson of slaves, also represented many not-so-famous clients, often in cases with racial themes.
He died on March 29th at his Los Angeles area home of an inoperable brain tumour that was diagnosed in December 2003.