Famed OJ Simpson lawyer Bailey dies aged 87
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04/06/2021 - 00:36 Attorney F. Lee Bailey successfully defended O.J. Simpson, accusing a Los Angeles detective of manipulating crime scene evidence and harboring racist motivations DAVID MCNEW Getty Images North America/Getty Images/AFP/File 3 min
Los Angeles (AFP)
Celebrity lawyer F. Lee Bailey, part of the Dream Team of attorneys that won O. J. Simpson acquittal on double-murder charges in 1995, died on Thursday at the age of 87.
The larger-than-life US attorney, whose domineering courtroom presence made him one of the nation s most prominent lawyers, passed of unspecified causes in hospice care in the southern state of Georgia, his family said.
“The legal profession is a business with a tremendous collection of egos,” Bailey said an in interview with U.S. News and World Report in September 1981. “Few people who are not strong egotistically gravitate to it.”
Some of Bailey’s other high-profile clients included Dr. Samuel Sheppard accused of killing his wife and Capt. Ernest Medina, charged in connection with the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.
“I have never known a greater intellect than that possessed by F. Lee Bailey,” said J. Albert Johnson, Bailey’s longtime legal partner and childhood friend.
Bailey, an avid pilot, best-selling author and television show host, was a member of the legal “dream team” that defended Simpson, the former star NFL running back and actor acquitted on charges that he killed his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in 1995.
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F Lee Bailey: Celebrity lawyer who defended OJ Simpson dies aged 87
The criminal defence lawyer is best known for representing and helping to acquit
OJ Simpson and Dr Sam Sheppard, who were both accused of murdering their wives.
He also famously defended newspaper heiress Patty Hearst and the alleged Boston Strangler, Alberto DeSalvo.
His son Bendrix Bailey confirmed the death, in hospice care, but did not state the cause.
He said his father had been in poor health in recent years and had moved to Georgia to be near another son, Scott, according to the New York Times.