F. Lee Bailey, a member of O.J. Simpson‘s famed “Dream Team” of defense lawyers that secured his acquittal for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1995 appeared on CNN Friday morning to discuss Thursday’s parole hearing where a panel decided that Simpson will go free later this year.
Host John Berman questioned Bailey about a moment in the hearing when Simpson claimed that he’s led a relatively “conflict-free life,” outside of the armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel that landed him in prison nine years ago. Berman noted that critics, including CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, knocked Simpson for that comment, in light of the murder arrest.
To put it nicely, Bailey was not impressed.
“Well first of all, I don’t put much stock in anything Mr. Toobin said,” Bailey immediately responded. Ouch.
Bailey went on to explain that Simpson was found not guilty of the murders, so as far as the criminal justice system is concerned, Simpson was right to say that. “He has had a conflict-free life except for the incident in Las Vegas, and one domestic difficulty to which he pleaded guilty and paid the punishment. So that’s not as far off the mark as people who want to ridicule him asserted.”
Despite this, Bailey did admit that Simpson’s statement “seemed out of place,” and that he appeared to say it “spontaneously and perhaps unwittingly.”
[Image via CNN screengrab]
