June 4, 2021

"He failed to keep Patty Hearst, the kidnapped publishing heiress, out of prison for her role in a bank robbery. He fell short..."

"... in his insanity defense of the confessed Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, and could not save himself from contempt of court citations, humiliating handcuffs and disbarment in 2001 for misappropriating millions. By then, however, his reputation had long been secured with triumphs that began soon after his law school graduation in 1960 with the Torso Murder Case. George Edgerly, a Lowell, Mass., auto mechanic, was accused of dismembering his wife and dumping her parts in a river. He had failed a lie-detector test, complicating the defense. But when the lead lawyer had a heart attack, Mr. Bailey took over and, raising the specter of reasonable doubt, won an acquittal. (Edgerly was later convicted in another murder.)"

From "F. Lee Bailey, Lawyer for Patty Hearst and O.J. Simpson, Dies at 87/With theatrical courtroom flair, he was involved in a host of notorious criminal cases, including those of the Boston Strangler and a Vietnam War massacre" (NYT).

1 comment:

Ann Althouse said...

Terry writes:

You and I were there for the 60s and 70s so I am sure you remember (and may have even watched — I did) the television show where FLB presented the evidence of Paul McCartneys death. I couldn’t find a good internet source (and I would love to see video of it). A sketchy site includes this description:

The main propagator of the theory was a chap called Fred LaBour. He heard the college campus rumours and turned them into an article, complete with his own embellishments, which was published in the Michigan Daily. It all took off from there.
Later he was invited onto a TV show to present the evidence. Prior to filming, he admitted to the host of the show, lawyer F.Lee Bailey, that the whole thing was hoax.But it was too late – the show had to go on.

http://jaquo.com/paul-is-dead/


I don't remember the F Lee Bailey show... but I was a student at the University of Michigan when the article came out. I remember us all waiting in line for cafeteria breakfast and reading that paper the day the fake news story first ran.