Ex-fugitive Einhorn granted new trial for ’77 murder

PHILADELPHIA – A judge decided Wednesday that former counterculture guru and longtime fugitive Ira Einhorn should get another trial in the 1977 murder of his girlfriend, reopening a case that has been the focus of outrage in this city for more than two decades.

Einhorn, 61, jumped bail and fled the United States in 1981, shortly before his trial was set to begin. He was convicted in absentia in 1993 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Holly Maddux, 30. Her mummified remains were found stuffed in a steamer trunk in the couple’s Philadelphia apartment 18 months after Einhorn said she went to the store and never returned.

Einhorn was apprehended June 13, 1997, at a converted windmill in the south of France where he lived with his Swedish-born wife.

In 1998, Pennsylvania passed a law allowing a retrial upon his request. The unprecedented move was made to satisfy a French requirement that foreign nationals not be extradited based on trials in absentia. Einhorn vigorously fought his extradition in European courts before finally being returned in July, every step infuriating his hometown and the Maddux family.

“We’re ready and eager for a new trial; we’ve been ready for 41/2 years for this, and actually much longer than that,” Maddux’s sister Buffy Hall said. “And when it’s over, I intend to never think of Ira Einhorn again, except when they notify me when he’s died in jail.”

Maddux’s siblings traveled from Texas and Massachusetts to attend the Philadelphia Daily News’ “killer tomato” contests, where people lined up to throw tomatoes at a billboard-sized picture of Einhorn.

Assistant District Attorney Joel Rosen, the lead prosecutor in 1993 who will serve the same role for Einhorn’s retrial, said he was gratified that “we’re a step closer to where we want to be.”

Michael Chitwood, the detective who discovered Maddux’s remains, said he looks forward to taking the stand against the former fugitive.

“If I have to hitchhike or walk back, I’ll get back to testify,” said Chitwood, now chief of police in Portland, Maine.

Chitwood said the case against Einhorn should be even stronger now in view of his years on the lam.

“It’s a shame that somebody can be a fugitive for 20 years and automatically get a new trial,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Einhorn was not in court for the brief hearing before Common Pleas Judge D. Webster Keough.

Einhorn was returned to the United States after a European court refused to halt his extradition from France, ending two decades of flight for the former anti-war activist, one-time mayoral candidate and self-described “planetary enzyme.”

He maintains he was framed for Maddux’s murder by the CIA after he uncovered secret mind-control weapon experiments.

In issuing his decision, Keough did not address other issues raised in court filings by Einhorn’s attorneys, including the constitutionality of the state law that allowed Einhorn to seek a new trial. However, he added that there is “a strong presumption that acts passed by the Legislature are constitutional.”

If the law were overturned, Einhorn could argue in federal court that the conditions of extradition had not been met and that he was entitled under international law to return to France.

U.S. officials also had to assure French authorities that Einhorn would not be eligible for the death penalty in his new trial because capital punishment was not legal in Pennsylvania when Maddux was killed.

The state Supreme Court on Nov. 9 refused to seize control of Einhorn’s case, which made a new trial possible in municipal court.

On Monday, lawyers will meet with Keough to determine whether Einhorn can afford a lawyer. His longtime attorney, Norris Gelman, said he no longer will represent Einhorn because of an already-heavy caseload and the fact that Einhorn is broke.

“He can’t afford me, no. … I don’t think he can afford anybody,” Gelman said, citing a $907 million wrongful death judgment against Einhorn from Maddux’s family.

Rosen said that getting a new attorney for Einhorn will delay the start of the retrial for “at least a few months.”

In 1981, Einhorn was free on $40,000 bail – thanks to testimony from prominent Philadelphians about his good character – when he boarded a London-bound plane on the eve of his trial. He lived in England, Ireland and Sweden under pseudonyms before his capture in France.

Einhorn is being held at Houtzdale prison in central Pennsylvania.