caption death_date nationality birth_date known_for article_title occupation
ellis rubin . 12 december 2006 american june 20 , 1925 creative and original defense tactics ellis rubin
 defense attorney
ellis rubin

ellis s. rubin -lrb- june 20 , 1925 -- december 12 , 2006 -rrb- was an american attorney in miami , florida who gained national fame for handling a variety of highly publicized cases in a legal career that spanned 53 years .
he was famous for his innovative defenses and his propensity for handling lost causes .
rubin won the first case in florida using the `` battered woman '' defense .
he also worked to free a man , james richardson , who had been wrongly imprisoned for 21 years for fatally poisoning his seven children , and created the nymphomania defense in a case involving prostitution .
`` the washington post '' characterized rubin as `` a miami lawyer with an affection for the disenfranchised and an outsized knack for publicity in the tradition of p. t. barnum -lsb- ... who -rsb- capitalized on the flamboyant characters and outrageous crimes endemic to south florida to present innovative and often unprecedented legal defenses '' .
his tactics were many times controversial , and judge wayne l. cobb , who handled the case of a confessed serial killer whom rubin was defending in 1993 , said rubin was `` famous for his psychobabble defenses . ''
throughout his career he took on over 5,000 civil and criminal cases .
