U.S. Fugitive Extradited From France
C H A M P A G N E - M O U T O N , France, July 20 -- After two decades on the run, convicted murderer Ira Einhorn was finally extradited from France early today and put on a plane to Pennsylvania, where he faces a new trial in the gruesome bludgeoning death of his girlfriend.
Einhorn was handed over to U.S. authorities at Paris' Charles deGaulle airport shortly before the flight took off for Philadelphiaat 1:25 a.m. today (7:25 p.m. ET).
Linda Vizi, an FBI spokeswoman in Philadelphia, confirmedtonight that the plane carrying Einhorn had taken off fromParis.
"He will be turned over to the Philadelphia police and theywill transport him to his new home," Vizi said. The JusticeDepartment in Washington also confirmed the handover.
In Washington, Justice Department spokeswoman Chris Watney saidEinhorn was in the air, accompanied by U.S. marshals. He wasexpected to arrive after midnight. A SWAT team was to accompanyEinhorn to Graterford state prison, a maximum-security prison about30 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
On Thursday, French police took Einhorn from his home inthe southwestern village of Champagne-Mouton and sped him away toParis.
"He gathered together his belongings," said lawyer DominiqueDelthil, standing outside Einhorn's converted-windmill home. "Ithink in some way he expected it. On the other hand, I think hestill had hope."
Einhorn was led outside, one officer holding each arm. Seated inthe back of the car, he waved to his tearful wife, Annika, wholeaned on a defense lawyer for support.
It was an end to two decades of flight for the former antiwaractivist and counter-culture guru, convicted in absentia for thebludgeoning death of his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, in 1977.
Einhorn's legal arsenal ran dry earlier Thursday, when theEuropean Court of Human Rights dropped a request it made a weekearlier for a delay in the extradition.
In what appeared to many as a stall tactic, Einhorn had slit histhroat when he lost his last French appeal. But he was notseriously injured, and the European court said Thursday in itsdecision that Einhorn was fit to travel. It also said U.S.officials had provided sufficient guarantees that he would not facethe death penalty.
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