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| '''Ira Samuel Einhorn''', known as '''"the Unicorn Killer"''' (born May 15, 1940), is a convicted murderer |
'''Ira Samuel Einhorn''', known as '''"the Unicorn Killer"''' (born May 15, 1940), is a convicted murderer who savagely beat his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux, to death and then stored her body in a locker in his apartment for more than a year before she was discovered by the police.<ref name=NYTTime>, ''The New York Times'', October 18, 2002. For his background, see , ''Time'' magazine, July 20, 2001.</ref> He fled to Europe and was finally convicted 25 years later for her murder in 2002 and is currently serving a life sentence. Although completely untrue, Einhorn claims to have been involved in Earth Day. In a sworn statement which can be found at http://www.amgot.org/einhorn/eday.htm, the real event organizers dispute this account saying "Ira Einhorn’s claims that he was a founder or organizer of Earth Day are false. He is a fraud. His lies do a real disservice to those of us who were and are deeply concerned about our planet’s environmental problems and who have worked hard to solve them.". Einhorn has since opened a page on Facebook and inserted words into that sworn statement to distort the truth. During the course of 2012 Einhorn has repeatedly attempted to distort the truth on this website as well but the general public has been able to regularly stop him. | ||
| His monicker, "the ]," came from the name Einhorn, which literally means "One Horn".<ref name=TruTV></ref> | |||
| ==Early life and activism== | |||
| Born into a middle-class ] family, Einhorn studied at the ].<ref name=NYTimes/> He became active in ] groups and was part of the ], ] and ] movements of the 1960s and 1970s. <ref name=MSNBC/> He called himself "the ]," because the name Einhorn (a German-Jewish name) means Unicorn, since both literally translate as "One Horn".<ref name=TruTV/> | |||
| Einhorn was the ] at the first ] event in Philadelphia in 1970.<ref name=MSNBC/> He claimed to have been instrumental in the creation and launching of the Earth Day event itself.<ref name=MSNBC/> However, other event organizers dispute his account, <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amgot.org/einhorn/eday.htm |title=Letter from the Earth Week Committee of Philadelphia }}</ref> including a rebuttal during testimony in Einhorn's murder trial.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2002/10/18/einhorn/index.html |title=Dave Lindorff's 2002 article on the Einhorn trial in ''Salon'' |accessdate=2010-03-31 |work= |publisher= |date=2002-10-18}}</ref> | |||
| ==Murder of Holly Maddux== | ==Murder of Holly Maddux== | ||
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| ==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
| *Einhorn, Ira. ''78-187880''. (1972) ISBN 0-385-06387-3 Its title is its Library of Congress number. | *Einhorn, Ira. ''78-187880''. (1972) ISBN 0-385-06387-3 Its title is its Library of Congress number. | ||
| *Einhorn, Ira. ''Prelude to Intimacy''. August 2005, ISBN 1-4116-4911-7. Einhorn's account of his life underground from the time he fled the United States in early January 1981 until he met his Swedish wife, Annika, in November 1987. | |||
| *]. ''The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius''. 1988 ISBN 0-13-937830-8. Published while Einhorn's whereabouts were unknown. | *]. ''The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius''. 1988 ISBN 0-13-937830-8. Published while Einhorn's whereabouts were unknown. | ||
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| * about Einhorn's attempts at denying extradition | * about Einhorn's attempts at denying extradition | ||
| * (See photographs #33-35.) | * (See photographs #33-35.) | ||
| * {{IMDb name|1527575}} | |||
| {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. --> | {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. --> | ||
Revision as of 06:48, 5 May 2012
| Ira Samuel Einhorn | |
|---|---|
 1979 mugshot and a 2001 mugshot taken upon his return to the U.S. | |
| Born | (1940-05-15) May 15, 1940 (age 84) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Criminal status | In prison |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Penalty | Life imprisonment |
Ira Samuel Einhorn, known as "the Unicorn Killer" (born May 15, 1940), is a convicted murderer who savagely beat his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux, to death and then stored her body in a locker in his apartment for more than a year before she was discovered by the police. He fled to Europe and was finally convicted 25 years later for her murder in 2002 and is currently serving a life sentence. Although completely untrue, Einhorn claims to have been involved in Earth Day. In a sworn statement which can be found at http://www.amgot.org/einhorn/eday.htm, the real event organizers dispute this account saying "Ira Einhorn’s claims that he was a founder or organizer of Earth Day are false. He is a fraud. His lies do a real disservice to those of us who were and are deeply concerned about our planet’s environmental problems and who have worked hard to solve them.". Einhorn has since opened a page on Facebook and inserted words into that sworn statement to distort the truth. During the course of 2012 Einhorn has repeatedly attempted to distort the truth on this website as well but the general public has been able to regularly stop him.
Murder of Holly Maddux
Einhorn had a five-year relationship with Holly Maddux, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College who was originally from Tyler, Texas. In 1977, Maddux broke up with Einhorn, which infuriated him. She went to New York City and became involved with Saul Lapidus, a rejection that Einhorn would not accept. After learning about this turn of events, Einhorn called Maddux and lured her back to Philadelphia under the guise of retrieving her belongings, although his intention was to murder her for breaking off their relationship. She was never seen alive again.
When questioned, Einhorn told police that Maddux had left to go to the store but never came back. Eighteen months later on March 28, 1979, Maddux's decomposing corpse was found by police in a trunk stored in a closet in Einhorn's apartment. After finding Maddux the police reportedly said to Einhorn "It looks like we found Holly" to which Einhorn reportedly replied "you found what you found". Einhorn's bail was reduced to $40,000 at the request of his attorney Arlen Specter; Einhorn was released from custody in advance of his trial by paying 10% of the bond's value, or $4,000. This bail was paid, not by Einhorn, but by Barbara Bronfman, a Montreal socialite and one of the many people Einhorn had convinced into supporting him financially.
In 1981, just days before his murder trial was to begin, Einhorn skipped bail and fled to Europe. Einhorn traveled in Europe for the next 16 years, along the way marrying a Swedish woman named Annika Flodin. Back in Pennsylvania, as Einhorn had already been arraigned, the state convicted him in absentia in 1993 for the murder of Maddux. Einhorn was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Extradition
In 1997, Einhorn was tracked down and arrested in Champagne-Mouton, France, where he had been living under the name "Eugene Mallon." The extradition process, however, proved more complex than initially envisioned. Under the extradition treaty between France and the United States, either country may refuse extradition under certain circumstances and Einhorn repeatedly attempted to exploit those loopholes to avoid prison for the crimes he committed.
Although his sentence was not the death penalty, Einhorn's defense attorneys argued that Einhorn would face the death penalty if returned to the United States. France, like many countries which have abolished the death penalty, does not extradite defendants to jurisdictions which retain the death penalty without assurance that the death penalty will be neither sought nor applied. Pennsylvania authorities pointed out that at the date of the murder, Pennsylvania did not have the death penalty and therefore Einhorn could not be executed, due to provisions in the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions regarding ex post facto law. Einhorn's next strategy involved French law and the European Court of Human Rights which require a new trial when the defendant was tried in absentia, hence was unable to present his defense. On this basis, the court of appeals of Bordeaux rejected the extradition request.
Following the court's decision, thirty-five members of the United States Congress sent a letter to President Jacques Chirac of France, asking for Einhorn's extradition. However, under France's doctrine of the separation of powers, which was invoked in this case, the President cannot give orders to courts and does not intervene in extradition affairs.
As a consequence of this refusal, in order to secure the extradition of Einhornen and ensure that he was imprisoned for the murder he committed, the Pennsylvania legislature passed in 1998 a bill (nicknamed the "Einhorn Law") allowing defendants convicted in absentia to request another trial. In another delay tactic, the bill was criticized as being unconstitutional by Einhorn's attorneys and they tried to get the French courts to deny the extradition again, on the grounds that the law would be inapplicable. However, the French court ruled itself unable to evaluate the constitutionality of foreign laws. Another point of friction with the U.S. was that the court freed Ira Einhorn under police supervision — French laws put restrictions on remand (the imprisonment of suspects awaiting trial). Einhorn was then the focus of intense surveillance by the French police.
The matter then went before Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, since extraditions, after having been approved by courts, must be ordered by the executive. The French Green Party stated that Einhorn should not be extradited until the issues concerning his case were fully settled. Jospin rejected those claims and issued an extradition decree. In one final attempt to avoid justice, Einhorn litigated against the decree before the Conseil d'État, which ruled against him; again, the Council declined to review the constitutionality of foreign law. He then attempted to slit his throat to avoid prison for the murder, and eventually litigated his case before the European Court of Human Rights, which also ruled against him.
On July 20, 2001, Einhorn was extradited to the United States.
Trial and penalty
Taking the stand in his own defense, Einhorn claimed that Maddux was murdered by CIA agents who attempted to frame Einhorn for the crime due to Einhorn's investigations on the Cold War and "psychotronics". After two hours of deliberation, the jury did not find his defense credible and affirmed his conviction on October 17, 2002.
Einhorn is currently serving his sentence in the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution in Houtzdale.
See also
References
- "Ex-Fugitive Convicted in 25-Year-Old Murder", The New York Times, October 18, 2002. For his background, see "The Ira Einhorn Case", Time magazine, July 20, 2001.
- Les Verts - Ira Einhorn extradé
- Council of State (France), Ruling of 12 July 2001, #227747
- http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/13/us/france-agrees-to-extradition-of-culprit-in-killing-in-us.html?ref=iraeinhorn
- Cite error: The named reference
NYTimeswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - "Information About Inmate: ES6859 as of 12/1/2010 3:41:37 PM ." Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Retrieved on December 1, 2010.
Sources
- Einhorn, Ira. 78-187880. (1972) ISBN 0-385-06387-3 Its title is its Library of Congress number.
- Levy, Steven. The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius. 1988 ISBN 0-13-937830-8. Published while Einhorn's whereabouts were unknown.
External links
- Excerpt from Larry King Live about Einhorn's attempts at denying extradition
- News Photo of the box containing the victim being removed from the house. (See photographs #33-35.)
- 1940 births
- Living people
- American anti-war activists
- American environmentalists
- American people convicted of murder
- American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
- Conspiracy theorists
- Crime in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Extradited people
- Extradition
- People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania
- People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Pennsylvania
- People convicted in absentia