Biography · Biography & Culture
James Willie "Bo" Cochran
1942–2016
United States
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Biography
James Willie "Bo" Cochran (November 29, 1942 - July 12, 2016) was an African-American man from Bessemer, Alabama, who is known for his false conviction and later acquittal as a part of a robbery and murder of a store clerk in Jefferson County, Alabama. Cochran was sentenced to death and held on the state's death row for 19 years before finally being released in 1997. Cochran is also notable for appearances in media such as “Death in Dixie” as well as numerous interviews with well-known attorney Richard S. Jaffe, who was a part of the team that freed Cochran.
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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13