ABSTRACT
Francis Lee Bailey, who is one of America's best-known criminal defense attorneys. He accepted cases that attracted him by their professional challenge, public notoriety, or fat fee. Bailey successfully argued before the US Supreme Court in Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 US 333 (1966), for a new trial for his client, Dr. Sam Sheppard, who was accused of his wife's murder. The following year Bailey appeared before the Supreme Court representing Albert H. DeSalvo, dubbed "the Boston Strangler." He ventured into the unfamiliar environment of military court-martial when he defended Captain Ernest Medina in 1971 for his role in the slaughter of women and children at My Lai, Vietnam. Bailey had considerable success defending clients such as those described as a result of several factors. He undertook careful investigation, prepared extensively, and often pursued a strategy of manipulating the media-a strategy frowned upon by more conservative, established lawyers.
