Johnnie Cochran using the Chewbacca Defense against Chef in South Park.

The Chewbacca defense is a fictional legal strategy used in the South Park episode "Chef Aid", which premiered on October 7, 1998, as the fourteenth episode of the second season. The aim of the argument is to deliberately confuse the jury. The concept satirized attorney Johnnie Cochran's closing argument defending O. J. Simpson in his murder trial. Image File history File links Chewbacca defense 1 This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Image File history File links Chewbacca defense 1 This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. ... Jerome Chef McElroy was a recurring character on the Comedy Central series South Park. ... This article is about the TV series. ... This article is about the TV series. ... Chef Aid is episode 214 (#27) of Comedy Centrals animated series South Park and soundtrack album of the same name. ... is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. ... A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each partys counsel (often called an attorney in the United States) reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. ... Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947, San Francisco, California) commonly known as O. J. Simpson and also just by his initials O.J. and his nickname The Juice, is a retired American football player who achieved stardom at the collegiate and professional levels. ... The O.J. Simpson murder case was a highly-publicized U.S. criminal trial in which former American football star for the National Football League (NFL) and actor O. J. Simpson was charged with the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman. ...

Origin

In the episode, Chef discovers that Alanis Morissette's (fictional) hit song "Stinky Britches" is the same as a song he wrote years ago, before he abandoned his musical aspirations. Chef contacts a "major record company" executive, seeking only to have his name credited as the composer of "Stinky Britches." Chef's claim is substantiated by a twenty-year-old recording of Chef performing the song. Jerome Chef McElroy was a recurring character on the Comedy Central series South Park. ... Alanis redirects here. ...

The record company refuses, and furthermore hires Johnnie Cochran, who files a lawsuit against Chef for harassment. In court, Cochran resorts to his "famous" Chewbacca Defense, which he "used during the Simpson trial", according to Gerald Broflovski. Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behavior. ... Gerald and Sheila Broflovski are fictional characters in the animated series South Park. ...

This last statement is a parody of Johnnie Cochran's closing arguments in the O. J. Simpson murder case where he states to the jury: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," in reference to an earlier point in the trial when prosecutor Christopher Darden asked Mr. Simpson to try on a bloody glove found at the murder scene, which he did unsuccessfully. ^[2] Chewbacca (or Chewie) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... A Wookiee is a member of a race of hairy bipeds in the fictional Star Wars universe. ... Kashyyyk (IPA: ), also known as Wookiee Planet C, is a fictional planet in the Star Wars universe. ... The moon of Endor In the Star Wars fictional universe, the forest moon of Endor, also known as the sanctuary moon, or simply Endor, is a moon that is home to the Ewoks and above which the second Death Star was constructed in Return of the Jedi. ... Ewoks are a fictional species of hunter-gatherers in the Star Wars universe. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Emancipation Proclamation Reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. ... The O.J. Simpson murder case was a highly-publicized U.S. criminal trial in which former American football star for the National Football League (NFL) and actor O. J. Simpson was charged with the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Cochran's defense is successful and the jury finds Chef guilty of "harassing a major record label" and sets his punishment as either a two million dollar fine to be paid within twenty-four hours or, failing that, four years in prison.

The coup de grâce: "Look at the silly monkey!"

Ultimately a "Chef Aid" benefit concert is organized to raise money for Chef to hire Johnnie Cochran for his own lawsuit against the record company. At the concert Johnnie Cochran experiences a change of heart and offers to represent Chef pro bono. He again successfully uses the Chewbacca Defense, this time to defeat the record company and make them acknowledge Chef's authorship of their song. In the second use of the Chewbacca Defense, he ends by taking out a monkey puppet and shouting "Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey!" causing a juror's head to explode. Image File history File links Monkey Cochrane This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Image File history File links Monkey Cochrane This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Look up coup de grâce in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A benefit concert is a concert featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. ... Pro bono is a phrase derived from Latin meaning for the good. The complete phrase is pro bono publico, for the public good. It is used to designate legal or other professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment, as a public service. ... Approximate worldwide distribution of monkeys. ... An exploding head is a surreal, involuntary gesture in fiction. ...

Usage

The Associated Press obituary for Cochran mentioned the Chewbacca Defense parody as one of the ways in which the attorney had entered pop culture.^[3] The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...

Criminologist Dr. Thomas O'Connor says that when DNA evidence shows "inclusion", that is, does not exonerate a client by exclusion from the DNA sample provided, "About the only thing you can do is attack the lab for its (lack of) quality assurance and proficiency testing, or use a 'Chewbacca Defense' …and try to razzle-dazzle the jury about how complex and complicated the other side's evidence or probability estimates are."^[4] Forensic scientist Erin Kenneally has argued that court challenges to digital evidence frequently use the Chewbacca Defense per se, in that they present multiple alternative explanations of forensic evidence obtained from computers and internet providers to raise the reasonable doubt understood by a jury. Kenneally also presents methods that can be used to rebut a Chewbacca Defense.^[5][6] Kenneally and colleague Anjali Swienton have presented this topic before the Florida State Court System and at the 2005 American Academy of Forensic Sciences annual meeting.^[7] Digital evidence or electronic evidence is any probative information stored or transmitted in digital form that a party to a court case may use at trial. ... In the common law, burden of proof is the obligation to prove allegations which are presented in a legal action. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Largest metro area Miami metropolitan area Area  Ranked 22nd  - Total 65,795[1] sq mi (170,304[1] km²)  - Width 361 miles (582 km)  - Length 447 miles (721 km)  - % water 17. ... The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) is a professional society for people in all areas of forensics. ...

The term has also seen use in political commentary; Ellis Weiner wrote in The Huffington Post that Dinesh D'Souza was using the Chewbacca defense in criticism of new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, defining it as when "someone asserts his claim by saying something so patently nonsensical that the listener's brain shuts down completely."^[8] Ellis Weiner is an author and humourist who has previously worked as an editor of National Lampoon and a columnist for Spy Magazine. ... Logo of Huffington Post The Huffington Post (often referred to on the Internet as HuffPo or HuffPost) is a politically liberal online news website and aggregated weblog founded by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer, featuring hyperlinks to various news sources and columnists. ... Dinesh DSouza Dinesh DSouza (born April 25, 1961 in Bombay, India) is an author and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. ... The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer—or speaker—of the United States House of Representatives. ... Nancy Patricia DAlesandro Pelosi (born March 26, 1940) is currently the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. ...

It should be noted that in the Star Wars universe, Chewbacca did not live on Endor at all. The false claim that he had lived on Endor is a reference to an argument between Cartman and Kyle in the episode Pink Eye; it also refers to Star Wars creator George Lucas' original intention to use Kashyyyk for the sequences that ultimately featured Endor in Return of the Jedi. This article contains a trivia section. ... George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... Movie poster Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, is a science fiction film that debuted in 1983, and re-released with changes in 1997 and 2004. ...

See also

• Chef Aid
• Idiot defense
• Twinkie defense
• Fear, uncertainty, and doubt
• Non sequitur, a form of logical fallacy
• Ignoratio elenchi aka Red herring, another form of logical fallacy
• Enthymeme for an analysis of Cochran's logic
• Price of tea in China, an expression which is used to denote something which is unrelated to the current topic of discussion
• SCO-Linux controversies, a long-running legal case where obfuscation was used

Chef Aid is episode 214 (#27) of Comedy Centrals animated series South Park and soundtrack album of the same name. ... The idiot defense is a satirical term for a legal strategy where a defendant claims innocence by virtue of having been ignorant of facts of which the defendant would normally be expected to be aware. ... In jurisprudence, Twinkie defense is a derogatory label for a criminal defendants claims that some unusual biological factor entered into the causes or motives of the alleged crime, and that due to this biological factor, either they should not be held criminally liable for actions which broke the law... In the computer software industry, (and by extension, those which are connected with it) FUD is an abbreviation for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. ... Non sequitur is Latin for it does not follow. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Fallacy. ... Ignoratio elenchi (also known as irrelevant conclusion or irrelevant thesis) is the formal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but doesnt address the issue in question. ... Look up red herring in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An enthymeme is a syllogism (a three-part deductive argument) with an unstated assumption which must be true for the premises to lead to the conclusion. ... The price of tea in China is an expression which is used to denote something which is unrelated to the current topic of discussion. ... The SCO-Linux controversies are a series of legal and public disputes between the software company SCO Group (SCO) and various Linux vendors and users. ...

References

1. ^ Audio of the beginning of the scene is available.
2. ^ CNN Interactive: Video Almanac - 1995.
3. ^ "Cochran was rare attorney turned pop culture figure", Associated Press, March 30, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-01-27. 
4. ^ Thomas O'Connor, Ph.D., Austin Peay State University Center at Ft. Campbell and North Carolina Wesleyan College. DNA Typing and Identification. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
5. ^ Erin Kenneally, M.F.S., J.D.. Applying Admissibility, Reliability to Technology. Florida State Courts. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
6. ^ Anjali R. Swienton, M.F.S., J.D. Erin Kenneally, M.F.S., J.D.. Poking the Wookie: the Chewbacca Defense in Digital Evidence Cases. SciLaw Forensics, Ltd.. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
7. ^ Upcoming AAFS Annual Meeting. CERIAS, Purdue University. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
8. ^ Ellis Weiner. "D is for Diabolical", The Huffington Post, January 24, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-27. 

The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the community in Florida, see University, Florida. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Ellis Weiner is an author and humourist who has previously worked as an editor of National Lampoon and a columnist for Spy Magazine. ... Logo of Huffington Post The Huffington Post (often referred to on the Internet as HuffPo or HuffPost) is a politically liberal online news website and aggregated weblog founded by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer, featuring hyperlinks to various news sources and columnists. ... is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Arp, Robert (December 2006). "The Chewbacca Defense: A South Park Logic Lesson", in Arp, Robert: South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1405161602. 

Blackwell Publishing was formed in 2001 from two Oxford-based academic publishing companies, Blackwell Science and Blackwell Publishers and is the worlds leading society publisher, partnering with 665 academic and professional societies. ...

External links

• Audio recording of the Chewbacca Defense - southparkstudios.com