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Prominent Miami defense lawyer Roy Black, who gained national attention by winning an acquittal in the 1991 William Kennedy Smith rape trial and was involved in scores of other high-profile cases, has died at the age of 80, his law partner said Tuesday.
Black represented clients ranging from pop star Justin Bieber to race car driver Helio Castroneves. Most of the time, he was on the winning side.
“For more than 30 years, Roy was my teacher, mentor and friend,” said his law partner, Howard Srebnick, in an email. “The loss(es) I feel personally and professionally are immeasurable.”
Smith's 1991 trial became a watershed criminal defense moment when most of it was carried live on national television, famously with a blue dot obscuring the identity of the accuser on the witness stand. Smith is a nephew of former president John F. Kennedy, former Attorney General and U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and former Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was implicated but never charged in the alleged assault of a woman in Palm Beach during a night of heavy drinking.
Kennedy Smith is now a physician involved in an organization dedicated to banning land mines and treating victims of them.
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In Miami, Black was viewed in legal circles as the GOAT — the greatest of all time, said fellow defense attorney David O. Markus, who compared him to NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan.
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“He worked harder than any lawyer I know. And he outlawyered every prosecutor who he ever went up against. I will miss him. His impact on criminal defense is beyond measure,” Markus said in an email.
The Bieber case involved allegations of driving a Lamborghini under the influence and drag racing, though the pop star eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges of misdemeanor careless driving and resisting arrest. Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves was acquitted in a case involving alleged tax evasion.
Over the years, Black's clients included Rush Limbaugh; “Varsity Blues” defendant Amid Khoury, who was found not guilty of rigging college admissions; and Miami police officer William Lozano, who was acquitted in the shooting death of Black motorcyclist Clement Lloyd. The latter acquittal sparked riots in Miami in 1989.
Another of Black's law partners, Jackie Perczek, said she learned from him that it was a lawyer's duty to “fiercely battle the oppressors and support the underdog.”
“This generation and many to come stand on his shoulders,” she said.
Black frequently wrote articles about the law for national publications and was regularly on national television shows.
He is survived by his wife, Lea, whom he met when she was a juror in the Kennedy Smith trial and who once starred in TV's “Real Housewives of Miami." They have a son, RJ, and his daughter, Nora. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.