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Ellis Rubin, 81, unconventional lawyer

MIAMI, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Ellis Stuart Rubin, a Miami lawyer known for his unconventional defense strategies and high-profile cases, has died of cancer at 81.

Rubin gained national fame in 1977 for his defense of 15-year-old Ronny Zamora, accused of killing an 83-year-old Miami Beach woman.

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Rubin sought to blame television violence. But the judge would not allow the strategy, and Zamora went to prison.

The "TV intoxication" defense has since been used successfully, Rubin partner Robert Barrar told The Miami Herald.

Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Rubin investigated Florida's communist threat for the state attorney general's office in the 1950s -- prompting journalist Drew Pearson to call him "the Joe McCarthy of Florida," referring to the Wisconsin senator who aggressively investigated claims communist and Soviet spies and sympathizers were inside the federal government.

In the 1970s and '80s, he fought the NFL's policy of blacking out televised games within a 75-mile radius if they were not sellouts 72 hours before kickoff.

Rubin is survived by his widow, Barbara Storer Rubin, two sons, two daughters and seven grandchildren.

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