Dershowitz Writes Book On Von Bulow Defense

Socialite Claus von Bulow did not testify during the retrial which acquitted him last year because his legal advisers wanted the jury to focus on medical rather than "soapopera testimony," said von Bulow's lawyer, Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz in his upcoming book, "Reversal of Fortune."

"As our preparation for the trial progressed, it was becoming clearer and clearer that our best defense was a medical one," said Dershowitz, whose book is excerpted in the March edition of Penthouse magazine.

"Had Claus taken the stand, the jury's focus would have been on him," said Dershowitz, who was hired by von Bulow to secure a retrial and to advise him on his defense. "And no one can know for sure what the verdict would have been."

Von Bulow was convicted in his first trial for attempting to murder his millionaire wife Sunny by giving her coma-inducing insulin injections.

Dershowitz said he and Tom Puccio, von Bulow's courtroom attorney in the second trial, arrived at their decision at a Providence, R.I. "summit meeting" with the socialite just before the second trial began. They concluded that chances for acquittal would be best if the defense's case focused on medical testimony that Sunny's comas were not clearly induced by insulin.

"There were no dissents, except for a regret from Claus, who said he had no choice but to follow his lawyers' advice," said Dershowitz.

Dershowitz' book also takes some personal jabs at von Bulow. The Harvard Law School professor wrote that after reviewing tapes of von Bulow's conversations with an associate, "I asked him to remind me `to bring a pillow the next time we have a long talk about anything but law.'''

```You're an insufferable bore on the tapes, droning on and on about castles, barons, and Bordeaux wines. You helped put me to sleep on at least three occasions,''' Dershowitz said he told von Bulow.

An assistant to Dershowitz said yesterday, "He and Claus have remained friends,... or at least acquaintances" since the retrial. The aide, who wished not to be identified, added, however, that Dershowitz, a criminal lawyer, would not work on von Bulow's case in the civil suit filed against the socialite by two von Bulow children.