Ira Einhorn: The Unicorn Killer
Updates 2002
Associated Press reported that just before Holly's death, she was happier than she had been in years. That is, according to Buffy Hall, the sister of Holly Maddux, who testified that the last time she saw Maddux alive, her sister seemed excited and upbeat, and said she was about to leave Ira Einhorn.
In seeming contrast, Stephen F. Einhorn, 58, Ira's only sibling, said his brother was "the most gentle person in the world" who protected him from bullies during their boyhood.
"He loved her. He wanted to marry her," said the younger Einhorn, who lives in suburban Glenside with their 91-year-old mother.
Lawyer for the former hippie guru said Ira Einhorn did not kill his girlfriend more than 20 years ago, and he fled the country only because he was "plain scared."
As opening statements in Einhorn's murder trial began, prosecutor Joel Rosen said he had a history of violence against women, reading a poem from Einhorn's personal journals, in which the defendant allegedly described how he had beaten and choked another ex-lover. The poem's closing lines were, "In such violence, there may be freedom."
"He had his own little bizarre philosophy of violence. It was OK to him," Rosen said.
Maddux's three sisters and her brother were in the gallery. "This to me is the final chapter. It's here," one of the sisters, Buffy Hall, said last week. "We trusted the system would work and it ultimately did, even against astronomical odds."
hearing with his attorney Norris Gelman
(c) and prosecutor Joel Rosen (r) in
Philadelphia
The jury was chosen in just a few days last week — quicker than expected. Lawyers on both sides had thought the media frenzy that has surrounded Einhorn would make it hard to find people without an opinion on the case.
Einhorn's lawyers may call celebrities such as Ellen Burstyn and Peter Gabriel as character witnesses. His New Age philosophy had gained him a following among the rich and influential in the 1970s.
On August 6, 2002, Einhorn's lawyers argued that the new murder trial that was the basis of Einhorn's extradition from France would be unconstitutional.
Their main objection centered around a Pennsylvania law that was passed specifically to allow Einhorn's retrial which they say violates his protection against double jeopardy, or being tried twice for the same crime.