In 1980 Dershowitz represented two broth- ers, Ricky and Raymond Tison, who were con- victed and sentenced to die for the crime of FELONY MURDER . The brothers had helped their father, Gary Tison, escape from prison; the father subsequently took part in a murder. Dershowitz raised the question of whether the brothers could be executed for a murder they did not plan or commit. In 1987 he argued for their lives before the Supreme Court, which remanded the case and ordered a new hearing. A 1982 appeal for socialite Claus von Bulow catapulted Dershowitz to greater public atten- tion than had any of his previous endeavors. Closely watched by the press, von Bulow’s trial seemed the stuff of best-selling fiction. He had been convicted of attempting to murder his wife, heiress Martha (Sunny) Crawford von Bulow, by injecting her with insulin— presumably, to lay hands on her millions. On appeal, Dershowitz made multiple arguments for reversal or retrial. He contended that his client had been the victim of an unconstitu- tional search, that evidence had been withheld from the defense, and that new medical evidence raised doubts about the insulin found in Crawford ’ s blood. The appeals court reversed von Bulow ’ s conviction in April 1984, and at a subsequent trial, with Dershowitz directing the defense strategy, a second jury acquitted him in 1985. The attorney wrote an account of the trial, Reversal of Fortune (1986), which later became an Academy Award-winning film.