For the Defense with David Oscar Markus

The 1980s was the wild west of drug trials. And there was no bigger cocaine cowboy than Carlos Lehder, who co-founded the Medellin Cartel. Lehder turned to Edward Shohat to represent him in a 7-month trial in which the prosecutor, nicknamed Mad Dog, called 29 snitches. In this episode, the finale of Season 4, David Oscar Markus takes Ed through the sprawling trial and the crazy turn...

John Gleeson has done it all. He’s been a federal prosecutor. A federal judge. And now he’s a criminal defense lawyer. Having seen the injustices in the criminal justice system, Gleeson started the Holloway project in which he and a team of lawyers are trying to free defendants who have been crushed by the system and minimum mandatory sentences. In fact, Holloway himself w...

There's prosecutorial misconduct and then there's what happened in the case of Ali Sadr in the Southern District of New York. Sadr's lawyer, Brian Heberlig, sits down with David Oscar Markus at his White Collar Law seminar at the University of Miami School of Law to discuss the absolutely insane misconduct committed by federal prosecutors in this trial and what -- if anything -- can...

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, also known as Dr. Death, was the center of debate at every dinner table – should a doctor be permitted to assist a patient in committing suicide if that’s what the patient wanted because of excruciating pain and a terminal illness. Prosecutors in Michigan said no and went after Dr. Kevorkian, who turned to Geoffrey Fieger to represent him. Fieger sits down with David Oscar...

Back in the 1970s, prosecutors started to go after what they deemed to be “obscene.” They went absolutely crazy when the movie Deep Throat was released. So they decided to arrest the projectionist, Richard Dexter, to send a message. Gerry Goldstein was a young firebrand lawyer who took on the case to trial and even all the way to the Supreme Court. Listen to him discuss all the twis...

Everyone knows of DeLorean cars, which were made famous in Back to the Future. What folks may not know is that the car's namesake -- John DeLorean -- was charged in two different federal cases in the 1980s. In one case in Detroit, he was charged with racketeering and embezzlement. Enter Juanita Brooks, who was one of the few women criminal defense lawyers to have her own practice at...

Mark Geragos, trial lawyer and fellow podcaster, discusses the Susan McDougal trials with host David Oscar Markus. In the 90's, Ken Starr was pursuing Bill Clinton. And anyone who got in Starr's way became a target. This included Susan McDougal, who refused to testify against Clinton because she believed that Starr was pressuring her to lie. Enter Mark Geragos, who was thr...

Season 4 of For the Defense premieres with Bruce Rogow who sits down with David Oscar Markus to discuss the groundbreaking criminal trial against 2 Live Crew and its front man Luther Campbell. Bruce Rogow discusses the 2 Live Crew case, an only in South Florida story in which a rap band was prosecuted because of its dirty lyrics.  Rogow and David Oscar Markus get into the backs...

The trials and tribulations of Willy Falcon and Salvador Magluta are the stuff of legal legend in Miami. Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman of rakontur are the producers of  Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami , a six-part documentary miniseries that recently premiered on Netflix. The filmmakers join David Markus on  For the Defense  to discuss the rise and fall of “Los Muchachos,” th...

Eleventh Circuit Chief Judge William H. Pryor joins David Oscar Markus on the Finale of Season Three of  For the Defense .  Judge Pryor brings a totally different perspective to the show, as he is the former Attorney General of Alabama, is on the conservative wing of the Eleventh Circuit, and even made President Trump's short list for the United States Supreme Co...

Eleventh Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum joins David Oscar Markus in this mini-season of judges in  For the Defense.  Judge Rosenbaum has a unique perspective on the criminal justice system as she has been a federal prosecutor, a magistrate judge, a district judge, and now an appellate judge. As a member of the more liberal wing of a court that is predominantly conservative, Judg...

Northern District of California Judge Charles Breyer joins David Oscar Markus in the premiere episode of Season 3 of For the Defense to discuss how the criminal justice system works from the perspective of a federal trial judge. In this mini-season, David will speak to three judges, including Breyer, the younger (and much cooler!) brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and two 11th Circu...

Southern District of New York Judge Jed Rakoff has been a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, and a federal judge, so he has a unique perspective of the criminal justice system. He has written a fascinating book about the system and its issues. In this bonus episode, David Oscar Markus discusses some of the main problems with the system and how to fix them. 

The Oklahoma City Bombing is one of the deadliest domestic terrorism cases in U.S. history and it struck right at the heart of the criminal justice system. Would anyone represent Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols? Not only did Nichols get a lawyer, he got one of the very best in history, Michael Tigar.  Tigar is a renowned trial lawyer, appellate lawyer, scholar, and...

The  Deepwater Horizon  explosion was arguably the worst environmental disaster in United States history.  In its effort to assign blame, the government scapegoated an innocent man -  Robert Kaluza,  the off-duty rig supervisor who was filling in for a few days. David Gerger  discusses his successful defense with David Markus in this episode of&nbs...

Senator John Edwards was a rising star in the Democratic party. He was a popular senator from North Carolina. He was John Kerry’s running mate in 2004 and then a presidential candidate in 2008. But he was also a flawed candidate as he was having an affair while his wife was dying from cancer and while he was campaigning for the highest office in the land. Was the cover up of th...

Yahweh Ben Yahweh had been convicted in federal court of conspiracy and sentenced to 17 years. But that was not enough for prosecutors who viewed him as an evil cult leader who ordered gruesome murders in South Florida. So they charged him with first degree murder in state court. The case involved tales of beheadings, cutting people's ears, and even a Temple of Love. Jayne Weintraub took...

Senator Ted Stevens was charged in federal court right before his election. He turned the famed criminal defense firm of Williams & Connolly to defend him. Rob Cary, who tried the case with Brendan Sullivan, discusses defending a well-known political figure at trial and also what turned into one of the biggest cases of prosecutorial misconduct in this Nation's history. 

Harvard Law Professor Ron Sullivan has spent his career teaching trial advocacy. In this episode of For the Defense, he shares with David Oscar Markus the techniques he used in defending NFL star Aaron Hernandez in his second murder trial. No one thought the case was winnable after Hernandez has previously been found guilty of another murder. That's when true defenders like Sul...

Jose Baez was a former Miami public defender looking to make a living in Orlando. Then he got a call from the jail that would change his life forever. Casey Anthony put her trust in Jose, and he did not disappoint. Up against a hostile media, judge, prosecution and even local bar, Jose showed what Miami criminal defense lawyers are made of. 

Season 2 of For the Defense premieres with Alan Dershowitz, perhaps the most well-known criminal defense lawyer of this generation. In this episode, he discusses the O.J. Simpson case, which went to trial while host David Oscar Markus was in his criminal law class at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz discusses what went wrong for the prosecution and the fascinating question of what should a jury...

BONUS SEASON ONE EPISODE: How many times over the past year have you heard the words  quid pro quo ? The entire impeachment trial of President Trump centered around the meaning of these words. But it didn't start with Trump. Back in 2014, Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife were charged with fraud for accepting gifts. Attorney Hank Asbill told the feds that they had no case because...

F. Lee Bailey discusses the case that thrust him into the national spotlight in the trial of the century before trials were covered by TV and social media. Bailey was a young gunslinger, representing Sam Sheppard, who later became the inspiration for the TV series and movie called The Fugitive. Bailey took on Sheppard’s case after he had been convicted at his first trial and most had lost hope for...

H.T. Smith discusses what it means to be a criminal defense lawyer in the context of an unspeakably grisly first-degree murder case in which his client, Aubrey Arthur Livingston, was accused of participating in the killing of five people, including two small children. Smith tried the case before a Broward County (FL) judge who appeared to be looking forward to sending Smith's client to "Old Sparky...

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 boot...