"STOP THIS COVER-UP!"

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Thundering like a Baptist preacher, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran asked jurors to fight police misconduct and racism by finding O.J. Simpson not guilty. "Stop this cover-up! Stop this cover-up!" Cochran demanded. "If you don't stop it, then who? Do you think the Police Department is going to stop it? Do you think the DA's office is going to stop it? It has to be stopped by you." Cochran told jury members they were guardians of the Constitution, and it was up to them to disregard the testimony of "the Devil of deception," former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman, whom he compared to Hitler. Afterwards, Cochran yielded to the calmer arguments of Barry Scheck, who quietly attempted to show inconsistencies in the state's DNA evidence. "It's hard to tell how Scheck's arguments will affect the jury," reports James Willwerth. "He was very thorough, had brought up some significant points, but he presented so many technical arguments that they all went by in a blur." Cochran resumed his more theatrical presentation later in the day.