Miami-based criminal trial and appellate lawyer David Oscar Markus wraps up Season 1 of the new podcast “For the Defense” with an interview of F. Lee Bailey.
In this episode, Bailey delves into his representation of Cleveland neurosurgeon Dr. Sam Sheppard, who was accused of murdering his pregnant wife in 1954. Bailey took Sheppard’s case on appeal in 1961 and today reflects on how this case thrust him into the national spotlight in the “Trial of the Century” before trials were covered by TV and social media.
Bailey, a young gunslinger, took on Sheppard’s case after he had been convicted at his first trial and most had lost hope for him despite Sheppard’s repeated claims of innocence. Bailey, however, did not lose hope and took Sheppard’s case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and then to a new trial, where Bailey became known as the best cross-examiner of a generation. Sam Sheppard later became the inspiration for the TV series and movie, “The Fugitive.”
Listen to the full episode here.
