Celebrity attorney F. Lee Bailey dead at 87

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) — F. Lee Bailey, the celeb legal professional who defended O.J. Simpson, Patricia Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler, however whose authorized profession halted when he was disbarred in two states, has died, a former colleague stated Thursday. He was 87.

Bailey died at a hospital within the Atlanta space, in keeping with Kenneth Fishman, Bailey’s former regulation associate who went on to grow to be a Superior Courtroom choose in Massachusetts.

Fishman didn’t disclose the reason for demise however stated Bailey had moved to Georgia a couple of 12 months in the past to be nearer to one in all his sons and had been coping with a number of medical points for the previous few months.

“In lots of respects, he was the mannequin of what a legal protection legal professional needs to be by way of preparation and investigation,” stated Fishman, whose authorized affiliation and friendship with Bailey dates to 1975.

In a profession that lasted greater than 4 a long time, Bailey was seen as smug, selfish and contemptuous of authority. However he was additionally acknowledged as daring, sensible, meticulous and tireless within the protection of his shoppers.

“The authorized occupation is a enterprise with an incredible assortment of egos,” Bailey stated an in interview with U.S. Information and World Report in September 1981. “Few people who find themselves not robust egotistically gravitate to it.”

A few of Bailey’s different high-profile shoppers included Dr. Samuel Sheppard — accused of killing his spouse — and Capt. Ernest Medina, charged in reference to the My Lai bloodbath throughout the Vietnam Battle.

Bailey, an avid pilot, best-selling creator and tv present host, was a member of the authorized “dream group” that defended Simpson, the previous star NFL operating again and actor acquitted on costs that he killed his spouse, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her pal, Ron Goldman, in 1995.

In a tweet Thursday, Simpson stated, “I misplaced a fantastic one. F Lee Bailey you can be missed.”

Bailey was probably the most priceless member of the group, Simpson stated in a 1996 story in The Boston Globe Journal.

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“He was in a position to simplify all the pieces and establish what probably the most very important elements of the case have been,” Simpson stated. “Lee laid down what the case’s technique was, what was going to be vital and what was not. I believed he had an incredible grasp of what was going to be crucial elements of the case, and that turned out to be true.”

One of the memorable moments of the trial got here when Bailey cross-examined Los Angeles police Detective Mark Fuhrman in an try and painting him as a racist whose purpose was to border Simpson. It was traditional Bailey.

Fuhrman denied utilizing racial epithets, however the protection later turned up recordings of Fuhrman making racist slurs.

Although Fuhrman remained cool below strain, and a few authorized specialists known as the confrontation a draw, Bailey, recalling the trade months later, stated, “That was the day Fuhrman dug his personal grave.”

Bailey’s newest e book, “The Reality Concerning the O.J. Simpson Trial: By The Architect of the Protection,” was being launched this month.

Bailey earned acquittals for a lot of of his shoppers, however he additionally misplaced instances, most notably Hearst’s.

Hearst, a publishing heiress, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Military terrorist group on Feb. 4, 1974, and took part in armed robberies with the group. At trial, Bailey claimed she was coerced into collaborating as a result of she feared for her life. She nonetheless was convicted.

Hearst known as Bailey an “ineffective counsel” who lowered the trial to “a mockery, a farce, and a sham,” in a declaration she signed with a movement to cut back her sentence. Hearst accused him of sacrificing her protection in an effort to get a e book deal in regards to the case.

She was launched in January 1979 after President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence.

Bailey made his title because the legal professional for Sheppard, an Ohio osteopath convicted in 1954 of murdering his spouse.

Sheppard spent greater than a decade behind bars earlier than the U.S. Supreme Courtroom dominated in a landmark 1966 determination that “large, pervasive, prejudicial publicity” had violated his rights. Bailey helped win an acquittal at a second trial.

Bailey additionally defended Albert DeSalvo, the person who claimed accountability for the Boston Strangler murders between 1962 and 1964. DeSalvo confessed to the slayings, however was by no means tried or convicted, and later recanted. Regardless of doubts thrown on DeSalvo’s declare, Bailey at all times maintained that DeSalvo was the strangler.

All through his profession, Bailey antagonized authorities together with his typically abrasive fashion and his quest for publicity. He was censured by a Massachusetts choose in 1970 for “his philosophy of maximum egocentricity,” and was disbarred for a 12 months in New Jersey in 1971 for speaking publicly a couple of case.

However publicity was a part of his technique, Fishman stated.

“Having fun with the general public eye turned a instrument for him,” Fishman stated. “He was one of many first legal professionals to go outdoors the courtroom and speak in entrance of a bunch of microphones. All of the information a couple of case was from the prosecution’s facet. So his technique was to get on the market and throw doubt on all of the legal costs.”

Bailey was disbarred in Florida in 2001 and the following 12 months in Massachusetts for the best way he dealt with thousands and thousands of {dollars} in inventory owned by a convicted drug smuggler in 1994. He spent nearly six weeks in federal jail charged with contempt of courtroom in 1996 after refusing to show over the inventory. The expertise left him “embittered.”

He handed the bar examination in Maine in 2013, however was denied the fitting to follow by the state’s highest courtroom, which concluded that he had not demonstrated that he understood the seriousness of his actions that led to his disbarment within the different states.

Francis Lee Bailey was born within the Boston suburb of Waltham, the son of a newspaper promoting man and a schoolteacher.

He enrolled at Harvard College in 1950 however left on the finish of his sophomore 12 months to coach to grow to be a Marine pilot. He retained a lifelong love of flying and even owned his personal aviation firm.

Whereas within the navy, Bailey volunteered for the authorized employees on the Cherry Level Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina, and shortly discovered himself the authorized officer for greater than 2,000 males.

Bailey earned a regulation diploma from Boston College in 1960, the place he had a 90.5 common, however he graduated with out honors as a result of he refused to affix the Regulation Evaluate. He stated the college waived the requirement for an undergraduate diploma due to his navy authorized expertise.

Bailey was married 4 instances and divorced three. His fourth spouse, Patricia, died in 1999. He had three kids.

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This story has been edited to make clear that though he handed the Maine bar examination, Bailey was not allowed to follow regulation within the state.