How did F Lee Bailey die? Criminal defense attorney, 87, was part of OJ Simpson's 'dream team'
Famous criminal defense attorney, F Lee Bailey, who is known to have represented some of the most notorious defendants in the history of the US including OJ Simpson and the 'Boston Strangler', died on May 3 in Georgia. He was 87. Bailey's former law partner, superior Court Judge Kenneth J Fishman confirmed the news of his death to the Boston Globe.
The high-profile criminal defense attorney was part of Simpson’s legal 'Dream Team' and helped in the acquittal of the football legend in the double-murder case of his ex-wife and her friend in 1995. Simpson, 73 said in a video on Twitter on May 3, "F. Lee Bailey was a great guy… he was great, he was smart. Sharp as ever. Maybe the best lawyer of our time, of his generation,” Simpson added. “You’ll be missed by me.” The cause of Bailey's death is still unclear. Bailey's death follows the passing away of legal world's prime mover Howard Weitzman who died aged 81 this April. He passed away after a long battle with cancer. What Bailey and Weitzman have in common is their client OJ. In the early '90s, Weitzman had also represented Simpson who was arrested for murder but later on, he stepped down from the case citing overwhelming workload.
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I lost a great one. F Lee Bailey you will be missed. pic.twitter.com/6s8JI3OQVB
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) June 3, 2021
Bailey had also represented the Boston serial killer Albert DeSalvo aka 'Boston strangler' and heiress Patty Hearst. Bailey once said that he received the cold-shoulder treatment and was oppressed by his peers after he defended Simpson aka 'The Juice.' The Boston University Law School graduate was disbarred in Florida in 2001 and in Massachusetts in 2002 for the way he handled millions of dollars in stock owned by a convicted drug smuggler in 1994. After he refused to turn over the stock, Bailey spent almost six weeks in federal prison charged with contempt of court in 1996. Bailey's last known location was Maine where he eventually won the right to practice law in 2013.
Although Bailey spent an entire legal career defending alleged criminals, he was unapologetic about his clients and the methods he employed to defend them. “I get paid for seeing that my clients have every break the law allows,” he once said. “I have knowingly defended a number of guilty men. But the guilty never escape unscathed. My fees are sufficient punishment for anyone.” "The legal profession is a business with a tremendous collection of egos," Bailey told US News and World Report in September 1981. "Few people who are not strong egotistically gravitate to it."
Bailey’s high-profile clients also included Capt. Ernest Medina, who was charged in connection with the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Bailey was married four times. His fourth wife, Patricia, died in 1999.