J. Michael "Mickey" Haller, Sr. (d. 1970) was the father of Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller, and the grandfather of Maddie Bosch and Hayley Haller. He was a famous criminal defense attorney, a registered Democrat, and a resident of Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. He had many high profile clients.
He once "handled one of the Manson girls," and later defended gangster Mickey Cohen in the early 1950s. Cohen gave him a Colt Woodsman pistol as a gesture of gratitude. In the late 1950s, he "won an acquittal for the so-called Highwayman." He used to represent jazz saxaphonist Frank Morgan when he had legal problems. In the late 1960s, he refused to take on the defense case for assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, because he "liked Bobby Kennedy too much to defend his killer."
Although some of the details are unclear, Haller had sexual relations with Marjorie Lowe, a prostitute. Lowe became pregnant and gave birth to a boy whom she named Hieronymus Bosch. Haller was the father of this boy and was aware of him but did not contribute to his support, forcing Lowe to continue a life of prostitution. He represented Lowe on six loitering arrests between 1948 and 1961, and later filed all of the paperwork for her to try to regain custody of her son. Haller is not listed as the father on the boy's birth certificate. After Haller's death, his youngest son deduced from his "old account books" that Haller Sr. "had a soft spot for the so-called women of the night."
Several years after the birth of Hieronymus, Haller had another child as a result of an extramarital affair. He divorced his wife and two months later married a B-level Mexican movie starlet. Five months after the wedding, J. Michael Haller, Jr. was born. Haller Sr. died when Jr. was only five years old.
Haller did not meet Bosch until the man was on his deathbed, and revealed that Harry had a half-brother. He was buried in the Good Samaritan section of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.
Appearances
- The Black Echo (mentioned; unnamed)
- The Black Ice (flashback)
- Blood Work (mentioned)
- A Darkness More Than Night (mentioned; unnamed)
- The Lincoln Lawyer (mentioned; unnamed)
- The Black Box (mentioned)
- The Gods of Guilt (mentioned; unnamed)