Johnnie Cochran

I couldn’t stop laughing upon reading about Johnnie Cochran Jr. making a book deal “slightly exceeding” Marcia Clark’s $4.2 million contract (Nov. 15). It is an amount of money that never would have entered Cochran’s mind had it not been for his petty attempt to outdo Clark’s fee. Cochran’s arrogance knows no boundaries and if he thought any more highly of himself he would be, well--O.J. Simpson.

MICHAEL GIVENS

Encino

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* Regarding the aftermath of the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murders: The consensus appears to be that everybody in the whole world may profit from the murders, except Simpson himself. This means that the print media, the electronic media, the tabloids, prosecuting attorneys, the defense attorneys, the onlookers, the off-lookers and any and all are free to make millions if their energies allow them to, and that Simpson, who was acquitted of the murder charges against him, must be driven into abject poverty, the reasons being that, let’s see, uh, justice must be served.

SAMUEL N. LAMBERT

Irvine

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* Thirty-six books on the O.J. Simpson case already have been published, 14 more are under contract and six are pitching for a publisher.

Now, all of this reading material is being published for a nation reported to have an alarming number of “functional illiterates.” Tell me: Who is going to be able to read all of this stuff? Well, looking at the bright side, perhaps it will inspire couch potatoes to zap the tube and read a book--or 59.

LOUISE HAUTER

La Canada