Leone, whom colleagues described as "a talented lawyer, " is leading the case against Louise Woodward, the 19-year-old au pair from England who is charged with first-degree murder in the February death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.
Simpson also alleged the trial court improperly restricted him from asking potential jurors about the notorious California murder trial and a subsequent wrongful death civil suit accusing him of causing the two deaths.
The Vineyard recently had its first murder in 20 years, when a man from Oak Bluffs was stabbed to death in what is thought to have been a drug-related crime.