For the Defense with David Oscar Markus

In the 80's and 90's, the Cali Cartel was responsible for importing the majority of cocaine into the United States. Federal prosecutors went hard after the leaders of the Cartel. But that wasn't enough. In Miami, federal prosecutors also went after the Cartel's criminal defense lawyers. One of those lawyers was brash Bill Moran. He looked and acted the part, wearing cowboy boots and expensive suits. When Moran was charged with RICO, the most serious of federal crimes, he needed the best possible team of lawyers. He hired Martin Weinberg and Albert Krieger. In this episode of For the Defense, David Oscar Markus, who later represented the head of the Cali Cartel (Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela) interviews Martin Weinberg, one of the deans of the criminal defense bar, on what it was like to represent a criminal defense lawyer (Moran) who had extremely strong views on how the case should be tried.  

There wasn't a bigger star than Michael Jackson.  And there wasn't a bigger trial than People of the State of California v. Michael Jackson, the four and a half month case in Santa Maria, California. The King of Pop needed the absolute best trial lawyer he could find as the stakes couldn't have been higher. Stars lined the audience and the witness stand in a trial with wall-to-wall coverage. The question to be answered at trial: Was Neverland Ranch the site of childhood fantasy or unthinkable nightmares? Everyone had an opinion on how Jackson and his lawyer should defend the case. Tom Mesereau had to put aside the noise and trust what got him there -- his trial lawyer instincts. From picking the jury to cross examining the complaining witnesses to deciding whether to call Michael Jackson himself to the stand, Mesereau made the right decision each and every time despite enormous criticism along the way. 

Racial justice is a topic that's on everyone's mind right now. In this episode, David Oscar Markus speaks with famed criminal defense attorney Roy Black about defending a police officer accused of killing a young Black man in the wake of the Arthur McDuffie riot. Roy brings us back to those tense times in the 1980s, which sound a lot like what's occurring today. Roy explains the challenges of representing a police officer who everyone wants to be convicted so that Miami won't burn again.Further reading: Roy wrote a chapter in his book about the Luis Alvarez case: http://www.royblack.com/files/Alvarez.pdf

In this series premiere episode of "For the Defense," David Oscar Markus speaks with Harvey Weinstein's lawyer Donna Rotunno about defending the biggest case of her career, representing the most hated man in America, fighting an entire movement and dealing with a hostile media, prosecutor, and judge.