F. Lee Bailey, Controversial Criminal Defense Lawyer For Patty Hearst And OJ Simpson, Dies At 87

F. Lee Bailey, the provocative defense attorney who gained notoriety for defending some of the most notorious criminal defendants, died on Wednesday at an Atlanta hospice at the age of 87, one week shy of his 88th birthday.

Rise to Prominence: Francis Lee Bailey was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1933, Bailey dropped out of Harvard University in 1952 to join the U.S. Navy, later transferring to the Marine Corps, where he became a fighter pilot. After his military service, he returned to Harvard but then transferred to Boston University School of Law, graduating in 1960 with a first-in-class ranking.

Bailey first gained national attention in the mid-1960s when he was hired as the defense attorney for Dr. Sam Sheppard, an Ohio osteopath who was convicted of murdering his wife in 1954. The case quickly became notorious for the excessive level of press coverage that insinuated Sheppard’s guilt before he was brought to trial.

Bailey brought Sheppard’s case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing Sheppard was denied due process. The court agreed, condemning the “carnival atmosphere” that surrounded the trial. Sheppard gained a retrial, and with Bailey as his attorney, he was acquitted.

Following the Sheppard case, Bailey became one of the nation’s most visible criminal defense attorneys, taking on controversial clients including Albert DeSalvo, who confessed and later recanted to being the Boston Strangler serial killer (he was indicted on other unrelated sexual offense crimes and Bailey arranged a plea deal to spare him the death penalty) and Capt. Ernest Medina, who was court-martialed in 1971 for enabling the My Lai massacre of approximately 500 unarmed civilians in Vietnam (he was acquitted on all charges and later worked for an aviation company co-owned by Bailey).

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Pop Culture Icon: Bailey achieved an even greater degree of fame for his handling of two cases involving celebrity clients that still resonate with controversy.

Bailey represented Patty Hearst, the newspaper heiress who was kidnapped by the domestic terrorist group calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. Shortly after her abduction, she was photographed participating in a bank robbery staged by the group, which led many people to speculate if Hearst was a willing participant rather than a captive.

Hearst was tried in 1976 and convicted of bank robbery and using a firearm during the commission of a felony. Her conviction was a rare defeat for Bailey, and Hearst later questioned if he was sober during his closing arguments because he spilled water on himself and appeared to be rambling in his defense. Hearst’s seven-year sentence was later commuted by President Jimmy Carter and she received a full pardon from President Bill Clinton.

Bailey secured a more successful courtroom verdict in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial.

As part of the media-hyped “dream team” of legal icons, Bailey’s cross-examination of Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman revealed the law enforcement officer’s history of using racist language, despite his initial claims that he never used such verbiage. Fuhrman’s credibility was damaged and in his subsequent appearances on the witness stand he pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering whether he planted evidence to frame Simpson, who was subsequently acquitted.

The Price of Fame: Baileys’ penchant for attracting headlines made him a go-to guest for legal discussions on television talk shows, but often he overplayed his celebrity. He hosted two syndicated talk shows that quickly folded, as well as an ill-received TV special focused on the “Paul is Dead” urban legend surrounding the alleged demise of Paul McCartney.

Bailey’s star power ensured that a 1982 drunk driving arrest generated national headlines, and his questionable handling of $5.9 million of Biochem Pharma shares belonging to his client Claude DuBoc, a marijuana smuggler and dealer, resulted in a six-week imprisonment in 1996 for contempt of court and his later disbarment in Massachusetts and Florida.

His attempt to gain a law license in Maine to continue his practice failed; He passed the bar but was prevented from practicing by the state’s highest court. In his later years, he ran a consulting practice.

Bailey defended his public persona in a 1981 interview with U.S. News and World Report, arguing he was in the right place for the right reason.

“The legal profession is a business with a tremendous collection of egos,” Bailey said. “Few people who are not strong egotistically gravitate to it.”

(F. Lee Bailey in a 1967 photograph. Image courtesy Picryl.com.)