Fringe-wearing Wyoming trial lawyer Gerry Spence dies at 96

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — (AP) — Gerry Spence, the fringe jacket-wearing trial lawyer from Wyoming known for a string of major court wins starting with a multimillion-dollar judgment against a plutonium processor in the landmark Karen Silkwood case, has died.

Spence, 96, died late Wednesday surrounded by family at his home in Montecito, California, according to a family statement.

“We are proud of his legacy and his contributions to the world, but most importantly, we are proud to be part of the family he built with love. We feel this loss deeply and we will carry him with us always,” read the statement from granddaughter Tara Spence McClatchey.

Spence dedicated his life to fighting for the rights and freedom of ordinary people, colleague Joseph H. Low IV said in a statement.

“No lawyer has done as much to free the people of this country from the slavery of its new corporate masters,” said Low, vice president and chief instructor at the Gerry Spence Method school for trial lawyers.

A polished raconteur with a gravelly voice whose trademark suede fringe jacket advertised his Wyoming roots, Spence was once among the nation's most recognizable trial attorneys.

He achieved fame in 1979 with a $10.5 million verdict against Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee on behalf of the estate of Silkwood, a nuclear worker tainted with plutonium who died in a car wreck a week later. Silkwood's father accused the company of negligently handling the plutonium that contaminated his daughter.

An appeals court reversed the verdict and the two sides later agreed to an out-of-court settlement of $1.3 million.

The events became the basis for the 1983 movie “Silkwood” starring Meryl Streep.

Spence successfully defended former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos against federal racketeering and fraud charges in 1990.

And he won acquittal for Randy Weaver, charged with murder and other counts for a 1992 shootout with federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, that killed an FBI agent as well as Weaver’s wife and 14-year-old son.

Spence led the Spence Law Firm in Jackson, Wyoming, and founded the Trial Lawyers College, now called the Gerry Spence Method. The retreat at Thunderhead Ranch in Dubois, Wyoming, helps attorneys hone their courtroom skills.

He wrote more than a dozen books, including the bestselling “How to Argue and Win Every Time.” He made frequent television appearances on legal matters.

Spence and his wife, Imaging, divided their time between Wyoming and California before selling their place in Jackson Hole about four years ago. An artist and poet, Spence continued painting and writing into his final days, according to the family statement.

Gerald Leonard Spence was born Jan. 8, 1929, to Gerald M. and Esther Spence in Laramie. The family scraped by during the Depression by renting out to boarders. Spence’s mother sewed his clothes, often using the hides of elk hunted by his father.

Years later, Imaging Spence sewed his fringe jackets. Spence drew a connection between the two women in his 1996 autobiography, “The Making of a Country Lawyer.”

“Today when people ask why I wear a fringed leather jacket designed and sewn by my own love, Imaging, it is hard for me to explain that the small boy, now a man of serious years, still needs to wear into battle the protective garment of love,” he wrote.

Pivotal in Spence’s young life were the deaths of his little sister and mother. Peggy Spence died of meningitis when he was 4 and his mother took her own life in 1949.

Spence’s father, a chemist, worked a variety of jobs in several states but the family returned to Wyoming. Spence graduated from Laramie High School and after a stint as a sailor, enrolled in the University of Wyoming.

Spence graduated cum laude from the University of Wyoming law school in 1952 but needed two tries to pass the state bar exam.

He began his law career in private practice in Riverton, Wyoming, and was elected Fremont County prosecutor in 1954. In 1962, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, losing in the Republican primary.

Spence returned to private practice but said in his memoir he grew discontented with representing insurance companies and “those invisible creatures called corporations.”

Spence received numerous awards and honors, including an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Wyoming and a lifetime achievement award from the Consumer Attorneys of California. He was inducted into the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2009.

Spence and his first wife, Anna, had four children.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, LaNelle “Imaging” Spence; brother, Tom Spence; children Kip Spence, Kerry Spence, Kent Spence, Katy Spence, Brents Hawks and Christopher Hawks; 13 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by sisters Peggy and Barbara.

Funeral arrangements were pending.