Milestones Apr. 11, 2005

PLEADED GUILTY. SANDY BERGER, 59, former National Security Adviser; to removing classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and destroying some with scissors; after previously calling what he did an "honest mistake"; in Washington. The documents concerned actions taken by the Clinton Administration to deter terrorism. If the deal is approved, Berger will pay a $10,000 fine and surrender his security clearance for three years.

DIED. TERRI SCHIAVO, 41, at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., 13 days after her feeding tube was disconnected following a court order sought by her husband and guardian Michael; after a wrenching family and judicial battle that pitted Michael against Terri's parents and siblings and, ultimately, some members of Congress.

DIED. JOHNNIE COCHRAN, 67, savvy, media-friendly attorney renowned for his resplendent dress and seemingly effortless charm with juries; of an inoperable brain tumor diagnosed in 2003; at his home in Los Angeles. Born in Shreveport, La., a great-grandson of slaves, Cochran won recognition after suing police departments for abuse in the 1960s and proudly displayed copies of his plaintiffs' multimillion-dollar checks in his office. His fame crested in 1995 after his successful defense of O.J. Simpson, against seemingly overwhelming evidence, of charges that he murdered his ex-wife and her friend. Cochran's signature line, a reference to a blood-stained glove: "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."

DIED. ROBERT CREELEY, 78, among the most influential American poets of the past half-century and the 1999 winner of the Bollingen Prize, poetry's top honor; of pneumonia; in Odessa, Texas. Rejecting the strict metric schemes of the academics, Creeley captured emotions with a spare, conversational style that assumed an intimacy with readers. In A Wicker Basket, he wrote, "There are very huge stars, man, in the sky/ and from somewhere very far off someone hands me a slice of apple pie."

DIED. HOWELL HEFLIN, 83, chief justice of Alabama's Supreme Court turned three-term Senator from Alabama; in Sheffield, Ala. A conservative Democrat, he voted against the nominations of Judges Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas and was a consistent supporter of black colleges and civil rights, including fair-housing legislation and a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

DIED. FRANK PERDUE, 84, folksy chicken tycoon; in Salisbury, Md.; of an undisclosed ailment. Perdue helped his father turn the family's chicken-raising business into a brand-name poultry powerhouse. His company's ubiquitous TV ads featured a crusty Perdue uttering the slogan "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," and sales took wing, from $56 million in 1970 to more than $1.2 billion in 1991, when he turned over daily operations of the company to his son Jim.