Hippie guru had ‘history of violence’

A PROSECUTOR told jurors yesterday that former hippie guru Ira Einhorn had a history of violence against women, and promised to present overwhelming evidence that Einhorn bludgeoned his girlfriend to death more than 20 years ago.

Prosecutor Joel Rosen read a poem from Einhorn's personal journals, in which the defendant allegedly described how he had beaten and choked another lover who had broken up with him. The poem's closing lines were, "In such violence, there may be freedom".

"He had his own little bizarre philosophy of violence. It was okay to him," Mr Rosen said during opening arguments.

Einhorn, 62, is accused of killing Holly Maddux in 1977 in their West Philadelphia apartment and stuffing her body in a trunk. He jumped bail on the eve of his 1981 trial and spent two decades on the run before he was nabbed.

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 since he was caught living in France in 1997 until his return to the United States in July 2001 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. And Einhorn, who has always maintained his innocence, may also take the stand.

Family and friends of Ms Maddux also planned to be in court for the trial.

"This to me is the final chapter," Ms Maddux's sister Buffy Hall said. "We trusted the system would work and it ultimately did, even against astronomical odds."

Einhorn's wife, Annika Flodin Einhorn, will not be in the courtroom. The Swede said she planned to attend, but was told she could be charged with aiding a fugitive. Ms Maddux's mummified remains were found in 1979, two years after she disappeared, when neighbours complained about an odour coming from Einhorn's apartment. Einhorn had told police Maddux went to the store and never returned.

Einhorn was arrested, but released on bail after several prominent Philadelphians vouched for his character. He fled and spent 20 years hiding in Europe before he was arrested in 1997 living with his wife in a converted windmill in southern France.

He was returned to the US in July 2001, but only after prosecutors agreed to a French request not to seek the death penalty and the Legislature passed a law allowing his 1993 murder conviction in absentia to be vacated.

Einhorn has said he was framed for Ms Maddux's murder by the CIA because of his knowledge of their secret mind-control weapon experiments.