F. LEE BAILEY
 Having
defended numerous high-profile defendants since the 1960's, F. Lee Bailey was an
accomplished defense attorney at the time of the Simpson trial. Bailey's clients
included the likes of the Samuel Sheppard, the doctor who was accused of murdering his
wife, and who became the inspiration for the television series and movie The Fugitive.
The weekend before Simpson's preliminary hearing, Bailey
was contacted by his friend, Robert Shapiro, who asked him to assist in the defense of
Simpson. Bailey had favorably defended Shapiro in a drunk driving case twelve years
prior to the Simpson case. When Bailey himself had been charged with drunk driving,
he used his friend Shapiro to successfully represent him.
Bailey's lust for the spotlight made the Simpson trial
quite enticing. Always a fan of the media, Bailey held numerous press conferences to
discuss the progress of the case.
In court, Bailey was a master as cross-examination.
Hungry for the opportunity to impeach Detective Fuhrman on cross-examination, Bailey
said in a press conference that, "any lawyer in his right mind who would not be
looking forward to cross-examining Mark Fuhrman is an idiot."
In 1994, at the same time as the Simpson trial, Bailey
and Shapiro represented one of the biggest marijuana dealers in the world. As part
of a plea bargain, the client agreed to turn over his assets to the U.S. Government.
Included in his assets were a large amount of stock, which increased in value from
six million to twenty million between the time of the plea and when the government
attempted to collect. As the deal was not put in writing, a federal judge held a
hearing to determine the terms of the arraignment. The lead witness for the
government was Shapiro, who testified that his understanding of the agreement was that the
government was entitled to the appreciated portion of the stock. When Bailey did not
produce the stock or the cash equivalent, the judge threw Bailey in jail. After
forty-four days in a federal detention center, Bailey gave up his claim to the stock.
Viewing Shapiro's acts as betrayal, Bailey has sworn never to deal with Shapiro
again.
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