F . Lee Bailey Francis Lee Bailey Jr . , commonly referred to as F . Lee Bailey , ( born June 10 , 1933 ) is an American attorney licensed to practice in Maine . For most of his career , he was licensed in Massachusetts and Florida . He is a criminal defense attorney who served as the lawyer in the Sam Sheppard re - trial . He was also the supervisory attorney over attorney Mark J . Kadish in the court martial of Captain Ernest Medina for the My Lai Massacre , among other high - profile trials , and was one of the lawyers for the defense in the O . J . Simpson murder case . He has also had a number of visible defeats , legal controversies , and personal trouble with the law , and was disbarred in Massachusetts and Florida for misconduct while defending his client Claude DuBoc . He was allowed to practice law again in July 2013 . In spite of his difficulties , he still has a reputation for being a highly successful defense attorney . Education and military service . Bailey was born in Waltham , Massachusetts . He went to Cardigan Mountain School and then Kimball Union Academy , graduating in the class of 1950 . Bailey studied at Harvard College , but dropped out in 1952 to join the United States Marine Corps . Bailey received his aviator wings in 1954 . He served as a jet fighter pilot and a legal officer . He was discharged in 1956 . Bailey received his LL . B . from Boston University , where he was ranked first in his graduating class in 1960 . Notable cases . Sam Sheppard . In 1954 , Dr . Sam Sheppard was found guilty in the murder of his wife Marilyn . The case was believed to be the inspiration for the " Fugitive " television series ( 1963 – 1967 ) and the 1993 movie . Bailey , at the time a resident of Rocky River , Ohio , was hired by Sheppard ' s brother Stephen to help in his brother ' s appeal . In 1966 , Bailey successfully argued before the U . S . Supreme Court that Sheppard had been denied due process , winning a re - trial . A not - guilty verdict followed . This case established Bailey ' s reputation as a skilled defense attorney and was the first of many high - profile cases . " Boston Strangler " . While defendant Albert DeSalvo was in jail for the " Green Man " sexual assaults , he confessed his guilt in the " Boston Strangler " murders to Bailey . DeSalvo was found guilty of the assaults but was never tried for the stranglings . Dr . Carl A . Coppolino . Dr . Coppolino was accused of murdering his wife , Dr . Carmela Coppolino ( August 28 , 1965 ) , and his neighbor Lt . Col . William Farber ( July 30 , 1963 ) . The prosecution claimed that Coppolino injected his victims with a curare - like substance called succinylcholine chloride , which at the time was undetectable due to limited forensic technology . Bailey , who had just won Sam Sheppard an acquittal in November 1966 , successfully defended Coppolino in the New Jersey case over the death of Lt . Col . William Farber in December 1966 . However , Coppolino was convicted of murdering his wife in Florida . He was paroled after serving 12 years of his sentence . Ernest Medina . Bailey successfully defended U . S . Army Captain Ernest Medina in his 1971 court - martial for responsibility in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War . Patty Hearst . The case of Patty Hearst , a newspaper heiress who had committed armed bank robberies after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army ( SLA ) , was one of Bailey ' s defeats . Patty Hearst describes his closing argument in her autobiography as " disjointed " and that she suspected he had been drinking . During his closing argument , Bailey spilled a glass of water on his pants . 1994 DuBoc case . In 1994 , while the O . J . Simpson case was being tried , Bailey and Robert Shapiro represented Claude DuBoc , an accused marijuana dealer . In a plea bargain agreement with the U . S . Attorney , DuBoc agreed to turn over his assets to the U . S . government . These included a large block of stock in BioChem , worth approximately $ 6 million at the time of the plea deal . When the government sought to collect the stock , it had increased in value to $ 20 million . Bailey claimed he was entitled to the appreciation in payment of his legal fees . Since he had used the stock as collateral for loans , he was unable to turn over the stock to the government . In 2000 , he was sent to prison for contempt . After 44 days at the Federal Correctional Institution , Tallahassee , Bailey ' s brother succeeded in raising the money to enable him to return the stock , and he was freed . O . J . Simpson . Bailey joined the O . J . Simpson defense team just before the preliminary hearing . Bailey held numerous press conferences to discuss the progress of the case . In a press conference prior to his cross - examination of Mark Fuhrman , Bailey said , " any lawyer in his right mind who would not be looking forward to cross - examining Mark Fuhrman is an idiot " . His famous cross - examination of Fuhrman is considered by many to be the key to Simpson ' s acquittal . In front of a jury composed predominantly of people of color , Bailey got the detective to claim he never used the word " nigger " to describe blacks at any time during the previous ten years , a claim the defense team easily found evidence to refute . Ultimately , the statement that Bailey drew from the detective forced Fuhrman to plead the Fifth in his next courtroom appearance , thereby undermining his credibility with the jury and the otherwise devastating evidence he allegedly found . Bailey also attracted minor attention for keeping a silver flask on the defense table , which fellow defense attorney Robert Kardashian claimed contained only coffee . William & Chantal McCorkle . Chantal McCorkle ( born 1968 , Slough , England ) is a British citizen . Along with William , her American husband , she was tried and convicted in 1998 in Florida for her part in a financial fraud . The McCorkles sold kits purporting to show buyers how to get rich by buying property in foreclosures and government auctions . They advertised on infomercial s . Among the grounds for their conviction was their representation in the infomercials that they owned luxury automobiles and airplanes ( actually rented for the commercials ) , and their use of purported testimonials from satisfied customers , who were actually paid actors . She , represented by Mark Horwitz , and her husband , represented by Bailey , were each originally sentenced to over 24 years in federal prison under mandatory sentencing laws . After two appeals , the McCorkles ' sentences were reduced in 2006 to 18 years . " Paul is Dead " . Bailey was featured in an RKO television special , in which he conducted a mock trial , examining various expert " witnesses " on the subject of the Paul is dead rumor . One of the experts was Fred LaBour , whose article in " The Michigan Daily " had been instrumental in the spread of the urban legend . LaBour told Bailey during a pre - show meeting that he had made the whole thing up . Bailey responded , " Well , we have an hour of television to do . You ' re going to have to go along with this . " The program aired locally in New York City on November 30 , 1969 , and was never re - aired . Disbarment . Bailey ' s visible public profile has come both as a result of the cases he has taken and for his own personal actions . In 2001 , he was disbarred in the state of Florida , with reciprocal disbarment in Massachusetts on April 11 , 2003 . The Florida disbarment was the result of his handling of stock in the DuBoc marijuana case . Bailey was found guilty of seven counts of attorney misconduct by the Florida Supreme Court . Bailey had transferred a large portion of DuBoc ' s assets into his own accounts , using the interest gained on those assets to pay for personal expenses . In March 2005 , Bailey filed to regain his law license in Massachusetts but failed . Allowed to practice in Maine . In 2011 , Bailey passed the bar examination in Maine and applied for a law license ; in 2012 the Maine Board of Bar Examiners voted 5 – 4 to deny his application . The majority said Bailey had not proved by " clear and convincing evidence that he possesses the requisite honesty and integrity " to practice law . Bailey appealed . In July 2013 , the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Bailey was allowed to practice law there .