THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS

by F. Lee & Harvey Aronson Bailey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 7, 1971

. . . and neither does F. Lee Bailey, the Boston attorney who has defended in some of the grittiest 18-point type cases of the last decade, the most sensational revisited here. Bailey, who never takes a vacation, tells why he runs so hard (""I burn dammit, that's why"") and reveals that he wins most of his cases -- nearly 70% which is remarkable -- because he does his homework. This is Bailey's life in court, beginning with the 1960 Torso Murder case (Lowell, Mass.) directly after law school (a big break) in which he used the polygraph to get an acquittal and in the process established himself straightaway as a skillful trial lawyer. Then came the Sam Sheppard appeals, a labyrinthine legal clanger ending in victory for Bailey but tragically for Dr. Sam who lost his freedom to pills and booze after ten years' imprisonment; the Plymouth Mail Robbery case, a ""black comedy"" wherein Bailey outfoxed the dimwitted ""postals"" (keystoned mail investigators) winning more points ""on the cross"" (examination) than Perry Mason has reruns; the gross (and graphically reported) Boston Strangler case in which Bailey used hypnotism to bring out the psychotic side of ""gentle"" Albert DeSalvo but failed to interest the state in studying the sex criminal's mind; the Coppolino case which he won in New Jersey then lost in Florida; and finally his troubles with the bar in Massachusetts and New Jersey as a result of his extra-courtoom pyrotechnics. Throughout Bailey discusses the defense attorney's adversary techniques, his philosophy as advocate (""Yes, I have defended a number of men I know to be guilty""), and his general attitude toward the American legal system which is uncompromisingly critical (""The system simply can't be counted on""; ""we operate ass backward""; etc.). Bailey's most famous cases (Medina is excluded, being adjudicated as the book went to press) are reviewed with a sure sense of the unfolding legal drama; you won't rest until that proverbial last word.

Pub Date: Dec. 7, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION