Jerry Vincent (d. 2007) was a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Los Angeles. His office was on Broadway near Third Street in downtown L.A. He employed an investigator named Bruce Carlin. He was married once and had been divorced for 9 years at the time of his death.
In 1992, he prosecuted Barnett Woodson for a double-murder, but lost the case when Woodson was acquitted based on the false testimony of a jailhouse snitch. After that he went into private practice as a defense attorney and made five times as much money as he had as a prosecutor. In 1997, he filed an order naming fellow defense attorney Mickey Haller as his second and also as the beneficiary of his law practice should he become incapacitated or deceased.
In 2007, he was retained by Walter Elliot to defend him in a trial for double murder. Subsequently, he was approached by Judge Mary Holder, who communicated through Carlin, to see if he would be interested in a deal to place a "sleeper" on Elliot's jury. Vincent was receptive because his client wanted it and there wasn't much of a defense otherwise. When Vincent learned about Eli Wyms, he decided to abandon the jury fix and focus on a new defense strategy which would entail asking for a delay. At about the same time the FBI contacted Vincent to investigate suspected jury fraud. These events caused Elliot and Judge Holder to direct David McSweeney to kill Vincent.
Vincent was shot and killed in his car in the parking garage attached to his office building. It was a professional-looking hit with no witnesses and no shell casings left behind. A .25 caliber Beretta Bobcat had been used but the weapon was not recovered. The killer also took Vincent's briefcase with his computer, files and phone. Judge Holder then implemented Vincent's order that his practice and caseload were to be transferred to Haller.
At the time he was killed, Vincent was almost ready to go to trial in the Elliot case. He had a number of other clients as well, including Patrick Henson, but Elliot was the big one. Elliot had already deposited $350,000 with Vincent, of which $250,000 had been spent. $100,000 of that money was used to bribe Judge Holder to set up the fix on Elliot's jury. Vincent reportedly told several people that he had a "magic bullet" for the defense of Elliot, but naturally he left no such information in his files.
Vincent's murder was investigated by Harry Bosch who ultimately arrested McSweeney for the murder.
Portrayal[]
Vincent was played by Corbin Bernsen in the 2008 video scene The Hit.