F. Lee Bailey helped O.J. Simpson beat the rap for murder. Now he's trying to help clear his name in the court of public opinion for some reason.
Evidence of O.J.'s innocence was held back in the 1995 trial in which he was acquitted in the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, Bailey says.
In new legal papers, Bailey tells of four people who could have bolstered Simpson's case but never testified, while offering a trial overview.
WE WON! Simpson flanked by Bailey, left, and Johnnie Cochran in 1995.
Simpson was found not guilty. Most Americans are convinced he is guilty, Bailey said, but his documents may persuade some doubters that he is innocent.
ROTFL.
Bailey wrote the documents, called "The Simpson Verdict," as a proposal for a book that never materialized. He published them on his website Sunday.
"It's time somebody put out the real facts of the case," he said of four people who never testified - a forensic scientist, an expert on battered women, a blood expert and the person who may have seen ... wait for it ... the real killer(s)!
That witness, he wrote, saw a woman the night of the murders matching Nicole Brown Simpson's description in an apparent confrontation with two men.
Neither of whom was O.J. Simpson. Upon hearing of the murders the next day, the witness recalled what he saw, described it and even drew a sketch.
The defense team decided not to call any of the four out of fear that additional jurors would be dismissed and a mistrial declared if the trial didn't end.
They also figured they had it won as it were, which was correct.
Bailey said he thinks the real killers were out to collect a drug debt, killing Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, mistaking them for their targets.
Although Simpson was found not guilty in a court of law, Bailey said it's important to prove him innocent in the court of public opinion.
"O.J. has what I call the damnation of an acquittal," Bailey said.
Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family during Simpson's trial, said she doesn't see any "smoking gun" in Bailey's document that might persuade people who think he was guilty to think otherwise.
If Bailey's evidence were that strong, she said, it would have been used in his civil trial, where he was found liable for wrongful deaths and ordered to pay a $33.5 million judgment. Hard to argue with Gloria on that one.
"If Mr. Bailey can't think of anything better than trying to help the public reputation of O.J. Simpson, that's really sad," Allred said, also validly.
As for the fact that he pretty much admitted the murders on several occasions, and the fact that come on, he totally did, Bailey had no comment.
See also: