That, of course, remains to be seen, as the preliminary hearing continues this week and an expected full-blown trial unfolds many months from now. But the very incomplete picture of Simpson’s case hasn’t prevented the defense team from dishing out any number of bromides about the case. Those offerings, a big part of the defense’s game plan, have taken hold. Watching the ubiquitous and unending TV coverage last week confirmed how little the commentators and prognosticators had to offer. “Media circus” was an inaccurate label only because at Ringling Bros., the animals are better behaved. Turn on ABC, CNN or Court TV and the riff was usually about the same: the defense was ingenious, the prosecution outmaneuvered.
In truth, though, the conventional blather about the case got a lot wrong. Four myths about The People v. O. J. Simpson:
Defense complaints about press excess in the Simpson case might be more compelling if Shapiro, Bailey & Dershowitz didn’t seem to be making them on 26 different channels. It’s especially ironic that Bailey, who once had TV lights installed in his Boston office, has made a career of litigating the harmful effects of pretrial chatter. At 28, he signed on to represent Dr. Sam Sheppard, who had been convicted in 1954 of murdering his wife. (The case later became the basis for the TV series “The Fugitive.”) In 1966, 11 years after Sheppard went to prison, Bailey became nationally famous when he persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the conviction. The ground: pretrial publicity violated the doctor’s constitutional right to a fair trial.
At least they want the prosecution to think so. Shapiro is captain of the team, Bailey the trial maven and Dershowitz the master strategist back in Cambridge who will also look for prosecutorial errors that could be fodder for an appeal. Among the three of them, they’ve defended such clients as Claus von Bulow, Patty Hearst, Leona Helmsley, Marlon Brando’s son and the Boston Strangler.
Even their most vocal critics, some of whom are just jealous, acknowledge the abilities of Shapiro, Bailey & Dershowitz. The problem is that criminal defense isn’t a team sport. Too many chieftains can confuse strategy as well as produce a clash of egos, not seen since, well, the last time Alan Dershowitz had co-counsel. (On “Larry King Live” last Thursday, he spent an entire hour explaining his limited “behind-the-scenes” role.) The fact is that the immensely talented Dershowitz often just can’t stand to share credit with others.
And how will Shapiro and Bailey share courtroom time come a trial? Each amiably defers to the other on that question – the two are longtime friends and Shapiro successfully defended Bailey in 1982 for drunken driving – but there’s no way both of them can play center stage.
Yet all the yabbering carries with it great risk for the defense. Forget the potential backlash among prospective jurors who may look back and feel they’ve been lobbied a bit too much. Or that any time the defense talks it may give up the element of surprise at trial. The big problem with talking too much goes to the very issue of guilt. Remember Bailey saying that Simpson has a solid alibi? Or Shapiro insisting that “O.J. was at home” when the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman took place? If in fact O.J. wasn’t home, his lawyers’ statements by themselves can be used to infer guilt. The theory: innocent defendants don’t come up with false alibis. A judge always has the last word, the lawyers could admit that they were just mouthing off in ignorance and, in any event, those statements alone aren’t near enough to convict. Nonetheless, they could be a piece of evidence the prosecution didn’t have – a gift from a so-very-thoughtful defense.
THE CASES THAT WON THEM FAME
“Dersh’ not only got convicted murderer Claus von Bulow’s (inset) fortune reversed, he got a book and movie out of the case, too. And big clients with big bucks didn’t stop there. The “Queen of Mean,’ Leona Helmsley, sought his succor to beat tax-evasion charges. She didn’t.
Shapiro successfully defended his buddy Bailey on drunken-driving charges in one of California’s first major televised cases. He’s never been camera-shy. He got porn star Linda Lovelace acquitted on drug charges and Christian Brando’s crime reduced to manslaughter.
Six years out of law school, Bailey won a reversal of osteopath Dr. Sam Sheppard’s murder conviction. He built his flashy reputation on the high-profile case. He even installed TV lights in his office. But after losing his defense of heiress Patty Hearst (inset), he faded.
