So this morning, I find myself thinking about two celebrities who were acquitted of murders that many (perhaps most) people think they committed…
Superstar lawyer F. Lee Bailey, who hasn't been much of a superstar since the Not Guilty verdict in the first O.J. Simpson trial, has released three chapters of…well, they're not chapters of a book that insists Simpson was innocent. They're more like three chapters of a presentation for such a book. And I must admit that one of the 93 things that convinced me back then that Simpson was guilty was that no one on this legal "Dream Team" came forth with such a book or argument. There were a lot of books and appearances that sought to justify their own roles in the drama but none that built a solid case for Simpson's innocence or offered any semblance of a credible "who did do it" theory.
I don't see that Mr. Bailey has now furnished either. When Vince Bugliosi wrote his book on why Simpson was guilty, one of his main themes was kind of like, "He's guilty because I, Vince Bugliosi, decided he was guilty and I know more than anybody else." Bailey's case seems to hang a lot on, "He's innocent because I, F. Lee Bailey, decided he was innocent and I know more than anybody else." Somebody get those two people in a room together someplace. I'm serious. Bailey claims that he's shown his thesis/presentation/whatever to numerous lawyers and none of have quibbled with a word of it. I'm not sure many will bother at this late date but I'm wondering if someone will. In the meantime, I'm torn between wanting to hear more about it…and not wishing to reopen that case in my mind. There was a time when I spent way too much of my time reading and hearing about it.
If you see that Bugliosi or anyone has responded to Bailey, let me know. In the meantime, Bailey's writings can be read or downloaded from this website. I must admit that it's odd to see someone insisting that he has the absolute truth, painstakingly and exhaustively researched and verified, and then to present it in PDF files full of typographical errors.
Turning to other famous alleged murderers: I often attend a thing called the Hollywood Show out in Burbank. Every few months, they do one of these and they're basically autograph shows where celebrities and near-celebrities sit around and sell photos of themselves. I usually find a few folks on the guest list who I'd like to meet or see again, and there are always interesting people in the aisles. Sometimes, the people in the aisles are more interesting than the people behind the tables.
The next one is the weekend of February 12-13 and the guest roster includes people I know and people I like and people I'd like to meet and one person who may have murdered his wife. It's Robert Blake.
I don't know how I feel about this. I do know I don't feel anywhere near as strongly about Blake's guilt as I do about Simpson's. This may be because there wasn't as much press or as many books to follow…and having squandered so much of my life reading about the Simpson matter, I resisted paying rapt attention to the Blake trial. In case you've forgotten, Mr. Blake was acquitted in a criminal proceeding but as with Simpson, he was later found liable for the murder in a civil suit.
Did he do it? I dunno. I'd like to think he didn't but it's sure difficult to see it that way. I don't even know how I feel about him turning up at this show to sell autographs. Part of me thinks he did it so he should be shunned and ostracized. Part of me thinks, well, maybe he didn't do it…and the guy sure could use the money. I also notice that a few previously-announced guests of the show have recently cancelled and I'm wondering if that's because Blake's appearance there was announced. If I were a celeb, I don't think I'd want the table next to his even if I thought he was probably innocent.