Philadelphia DA Lynne Abraham doesn’t give up, and she usually wins. Twenty years ago Ira Einhorn jumped bail and fled to Europe to avoid a murder trial in Philadelphia for the killing of his live-in girlfriend, whose body was stuffed into a steamer trunk. While authorities were searching for him, Einhorn was prosecuted and convicted in absentia and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In 1998, Einhorn was seized in France and a two-and-a-half year extradition battle began. French courts refused to extradite Einhorn because he had been tried in absentia under terms that conflict with French law. Although French law permits in absentia trials, it requires that if a fugitive convicted felon is captured he must receive a new trial. DA Abraham then went to the Pennsylvania legislature, which, at her urging, enacted a law, which is now part of the state’s Post-Conviction Release Act, providing the opportunity for an extradited individual who has been tried in absentia to petition and receive a new trial if the country in which he is harbored will not otherwise grant extradition. A French court then approved Einhorn’s return and Einhorn is now in a maximum-security prison near Philadelphia awaiting trial. The judge who, in 1979, signed search warrants that led to the discovery of the body of Einhorn’s girlfriend in his apartment was Lynne Abraham. The DA who in 1993 decided to try Einhorn in absentia was also Lynne Abraham. And the defense attorney who obtained Einhorn’s release on bail was Arlen Specter, a former Philadelphia DA, who later withdrew from the case. Specter was elected U.S. senator in 1980.
In 1969 when racial rioting swept through the factory town of York, Pennsylvania, current York Mayor Charles Robertson was a York police officer. Now, 32 years later, a local newspaper’s series on the 30th anniversary of the riots led to a reopened investigation into the murders of a white rookie police officer and a black preacher’s daughter, both of whom were fatally shot during the riots. As a result, Thomas H. Kelley, the first assistant DA in York and his boss, DA H. Stanley Rebert announced the arrests of Mayor Robertson and eight other white men on murder charges. Mayor Robertson is accused of giving bullets, when he was a police officer, to a group of white gang members and encouraging them to shoot the black woman who, with her family, had inadvertently strayed into a volatile white neighborhood at the height of the riots. A grand jury is still investigating the death of the white police officer. In an interview, Kelley said, “It is self evident that when you have two people murdered that someone in a position of authority should try to bring the culprits to justice…You don’t get into this business to become rich. You do it because it’s something you want to do, because you feel some need to right wrongs. Everyone I’m familiar with who loves this job and who stays with it is motivated in some way by the desire to be the person riding the white horse.”
After a sharply divided federal appeals court ruled that the FBI sharpshooter who accidentally killed the wife of a white supremacist leader during a 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, could stand trial, the local prosecutor in that jurisdiction announced that he would not proceed with manslaughter charges against the agent. Boundary County Prosecuting Attorney Brett Benson said, “It is unlikely the state will be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the criminal act set forth,” thus effectively making it unlikely that the agent, Lon Horiuchi, would stand trial, despite the appeals court’s ruling. Horiuchi’s shot killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of Randy Weaver, whom federal officials were seeking to arrest on weapons charges. The manslaughter charges had been filed by Benson’s predecessor, Denise Woodbury, who lost to Benson in last year’s election. Benson said he hoped his decision to not prosecute “will begin the healing process that is so long overdue.” Federal courts had twice previously dismissed charges against Horiuchi in the shooting. The most recent federal court ruling cleared the way for a state trial.
Robert H. (Bob) Macy who retired as Oklahoma City DA after 21 years on the job, has been succeeded by Wes Lane, one of his former assistant DAs. Macy was also a former NDAA president and board chairman.
Lee Solomon, Camden County prosecutor and NDAA state director for New Jersey, appeared on the PBS program “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on June 11, the day of the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, to discuss with Lehrer the death penalty and its deterrent effect.
In a program sponsored by the office of Fulton County (Georgia) DA Paul L. Howard, Jr., students in three Atlanta elementary schools received a dramatic “hands-on” introduction to the criminal justice system. The 10-week program culminated in a mock trial of a hypothetical armed robbery case, with the students playing the roles of DA, defense attorney, victims and jurors. A bonus was a four-day field trip to Washington, DC for the participants and a tour of the heart of the nation’s criminal justice system, including the U.S. Supreme Court. The program, “Legal Lives,” was created in 1990 by the office of Kings County (Brooklyn, NY) DA Charles J. (Joe) Hynes.
Mark Pautler, chief deputy DA of Jefferson County (Golden), Colorado, continues to win support for impersonating a public defender in order to persuade triple ax murderer William “Cody” Neal to surrender to police. In July 1998, Neal called a sheriff’s department investigator on a cell phone, confessed to the murders, and after several hours of negotiation, said he would surrender if he could talk to a public defender. The sheriff’s department notified Pautler, who, after unsuccessfully trying to reach a public defender, came on the line and said he was a public defender. The ruse worked, Neal surrendered and Pautler was disciplined in the spring of 2001 by the Colorado Supreme Court. Pautler was supported by his fellow DAs, the state’s major newspapers, and, judging by the overwhelming response in letters-to-the-editor, the general public. In a commentary in the National Law Journal, Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet wrote, “As a former criminal defense lawyer and lifelong civil libertarian, I believe that Mark Pautler made the right choice. If he was wrong, he was wrong for a good reason.”
In Texas, William A. (Bill) Turner, DA of Brazos County (Bryan), made statewide news when he asked the state’s entire 14th Circuit Court of Appeals to recuse itself from a politically charged criminal case (official misconduct) involving Ross Margraves, a former regent of Texas A&M University and a partner in the Houston law firm of Winstead, Sechrest & Minick. The motion to recuse asked the court to consider whether its impartiality “might be questioned” because another Winstead partner (a former state senator), was employed to lobby on behalf of the court during the legislative session. DA Turner’s motion asked: “After choosing Ross Margraves’s firm from all the potential lobbyists in the state, hasn’t the 14th Circuit Court of Appeals demonstrated a preference toward that firm?” The Texas District and County Attorneys Association filed an amicus brief in the case.
Also in Texas, a unique program created by Tyler County DA Jack Skeen, Jr., helps provide art, music and dance lessons to children who have been victims of or witnesses to violent crimes. Under the program, a community committee matches the children with sponsors who pay for the lessons. The first recipient was a nine-year-old girl who had watched her mother shoot her grandmother to death. Her mother is currently in prison. Child psychologists have praised the program as a helpful type of therapy.
NEW DAS: In Texas, Michael Stafford is the new Harris County (Houston) attorney, succeeding Michael P. Fleming, who resigned to accept a position in the private sector. In Pennsylvania, Marjorie Fox is the new Greene County DA, moving up from first assistant DA to succeed Glenn Toothman, who resigned.
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