AIDS-infected businessman Edward Savitz, a week away from trial on charges he paid teenage boys for sex, has died. He was 51.
As his health failed, Savitz was transferred from jail this month to a hospice, where he died Saturday morning - one year and two days after his initial arrest.His lawyer, Barnaby Wittels, said Sunday his client was as good as guilty to the media, though he never had his day in court.
"I hope that in heaven he will be judged more accurately than he was on Earth," Wittels said.
Savitz, who police said was known to neighborhood children as "Uncle Ed" or "Uncle Eddie," was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual abuse of children, indecent assault and corrupting the morals of a minor.
Trial was to have begun April 5. Savitz could have been sentenced to 54 years in prison if convicted of all charges.