They had started out so close. Shapiro was the defense team’s architect, taking over after original attorney Howard Weitzman bowed out. F Lee Bailey was his friend of 25 years, and godfather to Shapiro’s oldest son; Shapiro defended Bailey on drunk-driving charges in 1982. Johnnie Cochran came aboard as a top trial attorney. But behind the scenes–and occasionally in public–they began bickering. Once the verdict came in, they were ready to air some of the dirty laundry. Shapiro accused Cochran of playing the race card “from the bottom of the deck” and said he was “deeply offended” by Cochran’s comparison ofDet. Mark Fuhrman to Hitler.
Bailey called Shapiro a “sick little puppy” who had been willing to sell their client out in a plea bargain; and Cochran, in an interview with NEWSWEEK, called Shapiro “hypocritical” and spiteful: “It’s like winning the Super Bowl–because you didn’t play, you come out and attack your teammates.” Shapiro said he would never work with Cochran again, and never talk to Bailey. At the lawyers’ victory celebration at the Hollywood restaurant Georgia last Tuesday, as Cochran raised a toast to “the greatest team ever assembled,” Shapiro was conspicuously absent. “Let’s just say I have a holiday [Yom Kippur] to observe,” he told NEWSWEEK.
Rumors of a rift within the defense camp began to float as early as last fall. By the opening of the trial in January, as Cochran assumed charge of the team–according to defense sources, at Simpson’s bidding–the feuding was out in the open. After an unflattering story in a New York tabloid, Shapiro accused Bailey’s two investigators of leaking derogatory information about him to the press, and banned them from his offices. He told the Los Angeles Times that he wanted to diminish Bailey’s role in the trial because “We can’t have snakes in the bed trying to sleep with us.” Bailey responded that Shapiro’s remarks hurt the defense’s chances. According to one source, it was Simpson who held the team together. “It’s my f–ing life that’s on the line,” he told them.
But the camp remained fractured throughout the trial. After Coehran’s surprisingly speculative opening remarks, one defense member called the approach “blatantly unethical.” Later, Shapiro drew attacks from his colleagues for coming to court wearing a blue LAPD ribbon.
By the end of last week, Shapiro said he was too tired to continue the sparring with his former colleagues. “It’s immeasurable the toll it has taken on the people involved in any aspect of this case.” He announced that he was effectively closing down his defense practice and joining the prestigious litigation and entertainment firm, Christensen, White. But as a sore winner, his figure remains diminished, even as Cochran’s has grown. “I wish him well,” says Cochran, “but . . . nobody’s going to trust him.” With colleagues like this, who need adversaries?
