Stephen A. Smith on O.J. Simpson Case: "No Way in Hell That Johnnie Cochran Would Have Beaten Me"

Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless discussed part one of O.J Simpson: Made in America on this morning’s episode of First Take. The highly-touted documentary and the subject matter it covers has been discussed from myriad angles over the past few weeks.

Smith, however, found a new avenue to explore and let ‘er rip.

“I have profound respect for the late Johnnie Cochran, God rest his soul,” he said. “It might be the cockiest thing I’ve ever said … Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark did an absolutely horrendous job as prosecutors. Because if it were me, there’s no way in hell that Johnnie Cochran would have beaten me with that evidence that I, that they, had. I’m telling you right now, I’m not even a lawyer. There is no way that you would have put 12 jurors in front of me with that evidence and I would have lost it, even to Johnny Cochrane. I’d have won that trial. I’ve often said that.”

The butterfly effect is a hell of a thing. Imagine how differently things would have played out had the Los Angeles district attorney opted to pass over his trusted in-house counsel back in 1995 to pluck the Philadelphia Inquirer’s 76ers reporter to prosecute one of the biggest murder cases of all time. One has to wonder why that didn’t happen.

The fact that Smith has no legal training is probably a part of it.

Kudos, as always, to this man and his ability to move the needle. Anyone who says they aren’t greatly entertained by a claim like this one is lying.