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Roy Black, Miami Defense Attorney Behind Kennedy Smith Acquittal, Dies at 80

His death leaves memorial plans pending, prompting reflection on a five-decade career that reshaped Miami’s criminal defense.

Roy Black passed away at 80.
Defense attorney Roy Black, center, and Mark Seiden leave Palm Beach County Court, Aug. 2, 1991 during a recess in a pre-trial hearing in William Kennedy Smith's rape case.
Attorney Roy Black reviews documents before stating his objections to the unauthorized release of medical records of his client, radio personality Rush Limbaugh, at a hearing at the Palm Beach County Court House, Florida, on Dec. 22, 2003.
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Overview

  • Black died July 21 at his Coral Gables home after battling an illness and is survived by his wife, Lea Black, and two children, with tribute details to be announced.
  • He first rose to national prominence after securing the acquittal of William Kennedy Smith in the first rape trial televised live across the United States in 1991.
  • Over a fifty-year career he defended celebrities and public figures including Justin Bieber, Helio Castroneves, Rush Limbaugh, Amid Khoury and Miami police officer William Lozano.
  • Black was a key negotiator of Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement, a deal later criticized for its secrecy and impact on victims’ rights.
  • He taught criminal evidence as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law and regularly wrote for national publications, earning peers’ praise as Miami’s greatest criminal defense lawyer.