The IMPAC-Connecticut State University
Young Writers Competition
*LEGAL ICON, F. LEE BAILEY, TO HEADLINE BRIDGEPORT BOOK SIGNING
March 17, 2006
BRIDGEPORT - F. Lee Bailey will headline a book signing at the Rainy Faye Bookstore Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at 5 p.m.
Bailey, hailed as the foremost criminal defense attorney in modern times, is one of the best-known and most controversial figures in the practice of law, having been involved with many of the most high profile trials in modern America. He achieved fame for his successful defense in the retrial of Dr. Samuel Sheppard ("The Fugitive"), the trial of the "Boston Strangler" and the court-martial of Captain Ernest Medina for his involvement in the infamous My Lai massacre.
Bailey, who will autograph copies of his book The Defense Never Rests, tops a list of authors at the book signing that includes eye surgeon and novelist Joseph Bentivegna of Fairfield; Connecticut Review Editor John Briggs, a short story writer, photographer and English professor at Western Connecticut State University; and poet Franz Douskey of Hamden, who teaches English and communications at Gateway Community College in
New Haven.
After his successful defense of Captain Medina, Bailey continued to add to his list of celebrated clients who included newspaper heiress and SLA kidnapping victim Patty Hearst (defendant in Bailey's most devastating courtroom defeat) and O.J. Simpson.
Bailey has said: "of the twenty-one most highly publicized trials I ever tried, seventeen were acquitted, two got what they deserved, and two got shafted."
Earlier in the day, at Housatonic Community College, Bailey will discuss flaws inherent in the criminal justice system. He'll touch on the problem of factual errors by that can lead to wrongful convictions and sometimes wrongful executions. "A classic example is the number of people on death row who are later found to have had nothing to do with the crime," he said.
Bailey, who will punctuate his address with legal "war stories' drawn from his own experience and knowledge of other cases, noted that the only remedy to the factual error problem is political: the gubernatorial pardon. "And that's a joke," he said.
Bentivegna's novel, The Lords of Greenwich, is a tale of deceit and ruthlessness focusing on political corruption in Connecticut through the venues of sports, medicine and politics. His other books include: The Neglected and Abused: A Physician's Year in Haiti; and When To Refuse Treatment.
John P. Briggs is Professor in the Department of English Language, Comparative Literature and Writing at Western and the Professional Writing Coordinator. He is the senior editor of Connecticut Review, the award-winning literary journal. Briggs will sign copies of his new volume of short stories, Trickster Tales.
Briggs started his writing career in newspapers, working first for his hometown newspaper, The Tarrytown Daily News. He later did stints at The Hartford Courant as police reporter, general assignment reporter and copy editor. He also spent several years as the managing editor of a publication for The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and doing public relations and report editing for a hospital consulting firm. He was a professional photographer for several years in New York. He has taught at The New School for Social Research and Mercy College.
Dr. Briggs' published books include Trickster Tales published in 2005 by Fine Tooth Press; Entangled Landscapes: Stories and Poems about the Mind in Nature, co-authored with James R. Scrimgeour; HarperCollins' The Seven Life Lessons of Chaos, 1999, co-authored with physicist F. David Peat. He authored Fractals: The Patterns of Chaos, Simon & Schuster, Touchstone, 1992, selected by the Quality Paperback Book Club and the McGraw-Hill Book Club.
He received his doctorate in Aesthetics and Psychology from The Union Institute and University in 1981. He has a masters in literature from NYU and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.
His articles and interviews have appeared in Omni, Artnews, New Age Journal and Science Digest, among others.
He has also published fiction and poetry in The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Northwest Review, Parting Gifts, Pudding Magazine, Art Times, New Novel Review and others. A recent issue of River Oak Review featured several of his fractal dream stories and a lengthy interview about the relation of science and literature.
Professor Briggs has been a selectman and police officer in his home town of Granville, Massachusetts.
Douskey has been published in more than 150 journals and magazines including the New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Yankee.
He will be signing copies of a volume of poetry, Rowing Across The Dark.
A featured guest at New Haven's Festival of Arts &Ideas, Douskey is a founding board member of the IMPAC-Connecticut State University Young Writers Trust and has served as a judge every year of the competition.
The Rainy Faye Bookstore is at 940 Broad Street in downtown Bridgeport, across the street from the main branch of the Bridgeport Public Library and diagonally across the street from Housatonic Community College.
Bailey is Chairman & CEO of IMPAC Control Systems Inc., one of the world's leading productivity firms, with North America offices in Litchfield, CT and Punta Gorda, FL.
He is also the author of two other best-selling non-fiction books: For the Defense, and Cleared for the Approach , as well as many other respected volumes for law practitioners.
On the business front, Bailey has extensive experience. He is knowledgeable of management practices and has had broad experience with unions. He has been President and Principal Shareholder for Enstrom Helicopter Manufacturing Company, Menominee, Michigan; President and Principal Shareholder for TelShare Publishing Company, Chelsea, Massachusetts, a publisher of educational books; Consultant to Fairchild Aircraft, San Antonio, Texas; Director and Special Counsel, Murray Chris Craft Industries, Inc., Sarasota, Florida; President of Palm Beach Roamer, Inc., West Palm Beach, Florida, a re-manufacturer of yachts and airplanes; and Special Counsel to Interstate Chemical, Inc., West Palm Beach, Florida and Mobile, Alabama.
Bailey has done more than 2,500 lectures on various topics to colleges, universities, conventions, professional groups, and community organizations. He has regularly appeared on television as a host on such programs as Good Company, Good Morning America, ABC network shows; host of The Enemy Within, RKO syndicated; and host of Lie Detector, Columbia Syndicated Television.
Bailey joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he was a jet fighter pilot and legal officer. Mr. Bailey has logged more than 15,000 flying hours as an officer and civilian pilot. After attending Harvard College, Mr. Bailey was admitted to the Boston University Law School and graduated as Valedictorian. He was subsequently admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, the Florida Bar, the U.S. Supreme Court, and to all twelve U.S. Courts of Appeal.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Dr. Georgia Day, Rainy Faye Bookstore, 203-336-6911,
Anson Smith, Housatonic Community College, 203-332-5229,
Andy Thibault, IMPAC-CSU Young Writers Trust, Connecticut Review, 860-567-8492.