By Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News
July 11, 2003

The Rev. Paul Martin of Macedonia Baptist Church said he asked his friend, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., to represent the family of 15-year-old Paul Childs, who was shot to death by a Denver police officer Saturday.

The Childs family attends Martin's church. They have not spoken with Cochran yet, Martin said.

Cochran is sending investigators to Denver and will arrive himself in a couple of weeks, Martin said.

"This is a classic Johnnie Cochran case," Martin said. "He has been very successful in defending community people against the atrocities of police departments."

Martin said Cochran was well known in Los Angeles for such cases even before he defended O.J. Simpson and gained international notoriety.

As boys, Martin and Cochran both attended the Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles, and Cochran still goes to services there, Martin said.

They also were schoolmates through high school.

"He was just a normal kid," Martin said of Cochran - then, with a chuckle, added, "He didn't miss any of his childhood."

The two friends go back a long way.

"I'm 60-plus," Martin said, "and I'm better looking, but he's older. And of course, he's much richer."

They went to different colleges - Martin to Pepperdine, Cochran to UCLA - but studied together in the library of a third school in Los Angeles, the University of Southern California.

The two also were in each other's weddings, Martin said.

When Denver Mayor Wellington Webb was running for that office, Martin introduced Cochran to him. Cochran helped support Webb's campaign and remains a Webb friend.

Speaking in Five Points on Thursday, Webb said he thought it was "fine" that Cochran had become involved.

Martin and Cochran still work together on various projects. "I'm with him probably twice a month someplace in the nation," Martin said.

On Tuesday night, with Paul Childs' family in mind, Martin called his longtime friend in Los Angeles - only to learn that Cochran was in New York.

"So I called him the next day in New York and told him that there was something that he probably would like to look at, involving the police and a family in the community," Martin said.

Cochran could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Martin and other members of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance have demanded changes in Denver police procedures in the wake of the teen's death.

abbottk@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5188 News staff writer Sakari Alighandi contributed to this report.

Copyright 2003, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.