Obituaries
Epstein lawyer Roy Black, ‘GOAT of criminal defense lawyers,’ dies at 80
Roy Black attends a book signing for his his wife, Lea Black, on April 21, 2015, in Coral Gables, Florida. (Photo by Johnny Louis/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
Criminal defense lawyer Roy Black, known for representation of defendants who included multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein and physician William Kennedy Smith, a member of the Kennedy family, died Monday at age 80.
One of Black’s law partners, Howard Srebnick of Black Srebnick in Miami, told Law.com and the Miami Herald that his colleague “was the greatest criminal lawyer of our generation, perhaps in American history.”
Black won acquittals “in some of the most challenging and notorious cases of all time,” Srebnick said.
“He really was the GOAT of criminal defense lawyers,” wrote criminal defense trial and appellate lawyer David Oscar Markus at the Southern District of Florida Blog. Markus told the Associated Press in an email that Black “worked harder than any lawyer I know. And he outlawyered every prosecutor who he ever went up against.”
Other high-profile clients besides Epstein and Smith included singer Justin Bieber, conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh, race car driver Helio Castroneves and Columbian drug lord Fabio Ochoa.
Black represented Smith, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, when he was acquitted on a rape charge in 1991.
He was among several lawyers who represented Epstein, helping secure a plea deal in 2008, according to the Independent. In the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop federal charges against Epstein if he pleaded guilty to state charges. The guilty plea resulted in a 13-month sentence.
Black was also “a fixture” on NBC’s Today show and Larry King Live, according to the Miami Herald.
Black is survived by two children and his wife, Lea Black. She was a juror in the Smith trial, and she also appeared on The Real Housewives of Miami.
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