Lawyer who defended Rosa Parks dies at 84

Charles Langford, the lawyer who defended Americancivil rights icon Rosa Parks, has died at the age of 84.

His niece, Audrey Anderson, says Langford died in his sleep on Sunday in Montgomery, Ala.

Langford became involved in the civil rights battles that shaped Alabama soon after passing the state bar exam in 1953.

His most famous case was defending Parks after she was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man.

Her arrest inspired the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to pursue a case to the U.S. Supreme Court that ended segregation on public transportation.

Parks died in late 2005 at the age of 92.

Langford was elected to the Alabama House in 1976 and went to the state Senate in 1982, where he served five terms before retiring in 2002.