Gerry Spence

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Gerry Spence bigraphy, stories - American lawyer

Gerry Spence : biography

08 January 1929 –

Gerald Leonard "Gerry" Spence (born January 8, 1929) is an American trial lawyer and is widely recognized as one of the greatest trial lawyers of all time. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. Spence states that he "has never lost a criminal case either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney. He has not lost a civil case since 1969." Spence did lose a criminal case in a bench trial but prevailed on appeal.

High-profile cases

Karen Silkwood

Spence gained attention for the Karen Silkwood case. Karen Silkwood was a chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plutonium-production plant, where she became an activist and vocal critic of plant safety, what would now be known as a whistleblower. On November 13, 1974, Silkwood died in a fatal one-car crash under suspicious circumstances after reportedly gathering evidence for her union. Spence represented Silkwood’s father and children, who charged that Kerr-McGee was responsible for exposing Silkwood to dangerous levels of radiation. Spence won a $10.5 million verdict for the family.

In 1984, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the family’s right to sue under state law for punitive damages from a federally regulated industry., August 30, 1986, Science News. The Silkwood case achieved international fame and was the subject of many books, magazine and newspaper articles, and a major motion picture.

Other famous cases

After the Silkwood case, Spence tried a number of high-profile cases. He has not lost a civil case since 1969 and has never lost a criminal case with a trial by jury. He has had several of his more prominent civil verdicts overturned on appeal and lost a 1985 manslaughter case in a bench trial in Newport Oregon in December 1985, later prevailing on appeal.Spence, Gerry, The Smoking Gun

Spence successfully defended Randy Weaver on murder, assault, conspiracy, and gun charges in the Ruby Ridge, Idaho, federal standoff case, by successfully impugning the conduct of the FBI and its crime lab. Spence never called a witness for the defense. He relied only on contradictions and holes in the prosecution’s story.

He also successfully defended Ed Cantrell in the Rock Springs, Wyoming murder case, and he won the acquittal of former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos in New York City on federal racketeering charges.

Spence also defended Earth First! founder David Foreman.

On June 2, 2008, Spence obtained an acquittal of Detroit lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, who was charged with making unlawful campaign contributions. Before returning a not guilty verdict, the federal court jury deliberated 18 hours over four days. The acquittal kept Spence’s record intact of never losing a criminal case, including the Michael Jones homicideSpence, Gerry. The Smoking Gun. ISBN 0-7434-7052-4 trial in 1985.

In civil litigation, Spence won a $52 million verdict against McDonald’s Corporation on behalf of a small, family-owned ice cream company., The New York Times, 22 Jan 1984. A medical malpractice verdict of over $4 million established a new standard for nursing care in Utah. In 1992 Spence earned $33.5 million verdicts for emotional and punitive damages for his quadriplegic client, after a major insurance company refused to pay on the $50,000 policy., Star-Tribune Casper Wyoming, 21 Dec 2008.

Mock trial: United States v. Oswald

In 1986, Spence defended Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, against well-known prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in a 21-hour televised unscripted mock trial sponsored by London Weekend Television in the United Kingdom. The mock trial involved an actual U.S. judge, a jury of U.S. citizens, the introduction of hundreds of evidence exhibits, and many actual witnesses to events surrounding and including the assassination. The jury returned a guilty verdict. Expressing admiration for his adversary’s prosecutorial skill, Spence remarked, "No other lawyer in America could have done what Vince did in this case." The "docu-trial" and his preparation for it inspired Bugliosi’s 1600-page book examining the details of the Kennedy assassination and various related conspiracy theories, entitled Reclaiming History, winner of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Several times in the book Bugliosi specifically cites his respect for Spence’s abilities as a defense attorney as his impetus for digging more deeply into various aspects of the case than he perhaps would have otherwise.Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History (1st ed). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-04525-3