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Fugitive Einhorn in U.S. Custody
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, July 20 (News Agencies) - Twenty years after he fled murder charges, former 1960s hippie guru and convicted killer Ira Einhorn was behind bars in a U.S. prison Friday as prosecutors offered him a new trial.
Einhorn, 61, wearing a bulletproof vest and with his hands cuffed in front of him, arrived here earlier Friday on a chartered plane from France.
As he was transferred to a waiting car from the plane, Einhorn, in white jeans with a white shirt under the blue vest, looked tan and fit and smiled broadly but ignored questions.
On the run from U.S. justice for two decades, Einhorn was tried by the United States in absentia in 1993 and sentenced to life in prison by a Pennsylvania court for the 1977 murder of Helen "Holly" Maddux.
Maddux's body was found more than one year after her death in a trunk in the apartment the two had shared. The only suspect, Einhorn was charged with murder but fled the country in 1981 rather than face trial.
In order to secure Einhorn's extradition from France, U.S. officials pledged that he would get a retrial if he requested it and that he would not face the death penalty.
Since his arrest in France in 1997, Einhorn fought to avoid extradition and maintained his innocence, claiming he was framed due to his social activism in the 1960s and 1970s.
Speaking at a press conference following Einhorn's arrival, Lynne Abraham, Philadelphia's district attorney, said the state would honor its pledge to offer him a new trial.
If Einhorn wants it, "we will give him a new trial; that is what we are obligated to do," she said, referring to a law passed by the Pennsylvania legislature to secure his extradition. The legislation offers retrials for individuals convicted in absentia, after France initially refused to extradite Einhorn because he had not been present at his original trial.
Abraham said prosecutors were waiting to hear from his lawyers.
"Right now the posture of this case is he's convicted and sentenced for first-degree murder. He is presently serving a life imprisonment sentence," she said.
However, "we will be in very good shape to try this case again," she added. A petition for bail would have little chance of success, she predicted.
"Let's just say for now that bail is off the table. If you think I am going to spend another 20 years trying to find him…," she joked.
Einhorn arrived here at around 4:30 am (0830 GMT) following his extradition from France.
He was escorted on the flight from Paris by a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, two U.S. marshals and a Philadelphia police detective, an FBI spokesman said.
After Einhorn was turned over to local police, his destination was Graterford State Prison, outside Philadelphia.
French police arrested Einhorn at his home in southwestern France Thursday after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg refused to delay the extradition any further, closing his last bid for freedom.
Einhorn attempted suicide last week, when France's top administrative court rejected an appeal against a decree signed by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin that ordered his return to the United States. His neck was heavily bandaged upon his arrival here.
Abraham dismissed the suicide attempt as "a stunt."
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