I met Eliot Spitzer in the fall of 1984.  I was a first-year student at Harvard Law School; he was a second-year.  My criminal law professor was Alan Dershowitz, who was involved in a fascinating extracurricular activity.

He was representing Claus Von Bulow, who had been convicted of trying to murder his wife Sunny, in a sensational trial in Newport, Rhode Island.  Eliot was one of two students who were working as research assistants to Dershowitz, trying to win Von Bulow a new trial on appeal.

From the beginning, there was an odd contrast between Eliot and the Von Bulow case.  The attempted murder trial was a sordid drama, full of tales of illicit drug use and wild sex.  Eliot was the straightest of straight arrows.

He seemed so unlikely to be involved in such a matter.  But Eliot and his good friend Cliff Sloan were precocious and energetic young investigators, and they helped win Von Bulow a new trial; he was later acquitted.

Dershowitz wrote a book about the case, Reversal of Fortune, and it became a terrific movie, starring Jeremy Irons.  There is a composite character in the movie loosely based on Eliot and Cliff.

I’ve seen Eliot Spitzer turn into a prominent national figure in the years since, and we’ve remained friendly acquaintances.  I always got a kick out of the idea that he got his start in such an unseemly drama - which was so different from what his public persona became.

So today’s news is especially shocking to me, and especially sad. 

- Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Sr. Legal Analyst