O.J. Simpson's lawyer lashes out at those doubting innocence
F. Lee Bailey memoir
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A member of the legal defense team that won acquittal for O.J. Simpson on charges he slashed his estranged wife to death at a West Los Angeles townhouse has posted his recollections of the murder trial that cleaved L.A. along racial fault lines, and again claims Simpson is totally innocent.
"The LAPD arrested O.J. Simpson prematurely in what Johnnie Cochran constantly reminded their brass was a 'rush to judgment' '' in the explosive 1994 murder case, wrote defense attorney F. Lee Bailey. "They had sent the prosecutors to trial with what every true expert saw as a tragically anemic case, with very little substance and a plethora of doubt.''
Bailey posted the 48-page "outline'' on the web site for his law office in Yarmouth, Maine, last week. News of it first broke in the Portland Sunday Herald.
Part of the outline appears to be a blueprint, written before Simpson went on trial, for the "Dream Team'' of more than a dozen lawyers and investigators to split up the various aspects of the case. Other parts read like a law school evidence course, as Bailey lays out the difference between different types of legally-relevant hearsay evidence.
Bailey told the Maine newspaper that has "has never, ever wavered in my assertions that O.J. Simpson did not harm anyone or kill anyone the night his former wife and her friend were butchered'' on Bundy Drive in Westwood.
Simpson's acquittal ignited a firestorm of criticism of supposed "checkbook justice,'' and Bailey bristles at "redneck'' complaints that a murdered got away by hiring an expensive dream team of lawyers.
"Lawyers, some judges and self-styled intelligentsia continue to assert they know that Simpson did it, and I got him off by destroying (Mark) Fuhrman,'' said Bailey, referring to the LAPD detective who said he found a bloody glove that was supposedly dropped by a fleeing Simpson. Fuhrman, Bailey wrote, was "both supportive of, and experienced in, planting evidence to frame people.''
On June 12, 1994, Nicole Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, were hacked to death in the entryway of her Brentwood townhome. Simpson was arrested after a low-speed chase across Southern California that was televised around the world.
Bailey sniffs with disdain at the term "slow-speed pursuit,'' and called it more of a "low-speed escort.'' The veteran courtroom lawyer had a harsh appraisal of the reporters covering the "trial of the decade,'' which was covered live on local broadcast and nationwide cable television.
"The defense in this case has been trashed and pummeled in the press like no case in history,'' Bailey wrote. "I continue to be astonished to see otherwise semi-responsible newshounds throwing ethics, caution and concern for the truth to the four winds.''
Simpson was convicted of 10 charges of armed robbery in connection with a 2007 Las Vegas incident, where he claims he was trying to reclaim his own momentos from a dealer who had illegally possessed them. The former football star, commercial pitchman and NBC sportscaster now sits in a prison in Lovelock, Nevada, serving a 9-year-minimum prison terms that could last 33 years.
Bailey weighs in on that, too: "I am convinced that he sits in jail today because a jury in Nevada believed it was punishing him because he 'beat the rap' for these two murder charges.''
By Hans Laetz | City News Service
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Disgraced football legend O.J. Simpson was in a Las Vegas courtroom Monday in a bid to get his robbery, assault and kidnapping convictions thrown out.
Dressed in a blue prison uniform, the Heisman Trophy winner and former Buffalo Bills star halfback appeared to have grayed some during his four years of incarceration.
Wearing a blue prison uniform, O.J. Simpson testified Wednesday in a Las Vegas courtroom that his former attorney advised he could use some force to reclaim personal items from sports memorabilia dealers as long as he didn’t trespass.
Simpson took the witness stand in an effort to get a new trial on his armed robbery, assault and kidnapping convictions stemming from the confrontation in 2007. He insists that his attorney in that case, Yale Galanter, didn’t adequately represent him during the trial a year later.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A dozen Los Angeles-area residents — including the state’s second-largest biller for chiropractic services — were taken into custody today in connection with seven criminal cases alleging they cumulatively submitted more than $22 million in false billings to Medicare.
Those arrested also include a physician’s assistant and owners of durable medical equipment and ambulance companies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Virgin America airline began offering flights between Los Angeles International Airport and Las Vegas today, and touted the service with a sale of tickets for as low as $39 each way.
Passengers on the inaugural flight from LAX to Las Vegas were given the red-carpet treatment upon arrival, and airline officials, including company founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin America CEO David Cush, will host a celebration tonight at The Cosmopolitan hotel/casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Whether you’re on business or vacation, if you’re sleeping in anything more sophisticated than a zippered sack, staying connected is a necessary part of travel.
For years, a crusty USB jack and some intermittent Wi-Fi were enough to constitute a full suite of technological hotel amenities.
Today’s future-forward lodge has to offer in-room nightclub lighting and 3D television just to keep up with the Skywalkers.
The new breed of techie lodging is no less a hotel than a Best Buy with blankets.
