PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former hippie guru Ira Einhorn, who hid out in Europe for nearly 17 years after being charged with killing his girlfriend, was found guilty Thursday of murdering her and stuffing her mummified corpse in his closet. Einhorn, 62, faces an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole for the first-degree murder conviction. Einhorn was a 1970s counterculture superstar who held “be-in” events and counted yippie Jerry Rubin and rock star Peter Gabriel among his acquaintances. He insisted he was innocent and said he last saw 30-year-old Holly Maddux as she left to make a phone call. He said he had no idea how her body turned up in a steamer trunk in his closet.
Prosecutors said Einhorn was a loutish womanizer who turned violent whenever a woman wanted to leave him. They had him read to jurors from his poems and diary entries, in which he wrote “to kill what you love when you can’t have it seems so natural” and “violence always marks the end of a relationship.” Einhorn was captured in France in 1997, 20 years after Maddux vanished. He was returned to the United States last year after assurances were made to the French government that his 1993 conviction in absentia would be vacated and he would not face the death penalty. Einhorn said he was framed by the CIA because of his knowledge of what he called their secret mind-control weapon experiments. He did not say in court who he believed was responsible for her death.
He was railroaded! I mean, who doesn’t have a body or two locked in steamer trunks in their closet? First they make it a crime to smoke in restaurants, then this. The terrorists have won I’m tellin’ ya!
I’ll go to my room now.
Thanks for posting this, Eve–frankly, I’m glad that the jury didn’t buy into his “story.” I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s too bad that the US had to promise France that he would not face the death penalty.
It’s a shame my fine Commonwealth can’t give him a one-way ticket across the river Styx, but the fact that he’ll most likely get life is a small consolation. In Pennsylvania, a conviction for first-degree murder when the death penalty’s not invoked means you enter prison under your own power but leave feet first.
My only regret is that my tax dollars will be feeding and clothing this bastard for the next couple of dozen years.
ira on the witness stand was incredible.
i’m amazed the jury took 2 hours. perhaps they just wanted lunch.
i thought they would just stand up and announce “guilty, guilty, guilty!” as soon as the trial finished.
That’s good! My mom gave me a book on the case some months ago, and I got through some of it. It’s a very tragic story that didn’t have to happen if Ira wasn’t so possessive of Holly and his other girlfriends.
What is idiotic is that France grumbled about the death penalty when he was found in that country. They ignored the fact that Einhorn had already been tried in absentia (skipping bail is not a Constitutional right) anbd found guily with a life sentence.
The French complained about this, pointing out how barbaric our court system. Meanwhile they happily tried a terrorist in absentia themselves with their “guilty until proven innocent” system.
“Well, we all agree he’s guilty. But if we just turn around and walk back out, the bastard might be able to get a new trial on some legal technicality.”
“How long do we have to stay in here?”
"Oh, let's stay for 2 hours. To amuse ourselves, let's see if we can come up with a more ludicrous defense than the-CIA-did-it-to-stop-my-psychic-experiments story"
"Ooh! Me first! The secret service killed her to hide the fact that the moon landings were fake!"