France's highest court has upheld a lower court ruling rejecting extradition for Ira Einhorn, the American counterculture figure convicted in absentia for the 1977 murder of his girlfriend, judicial sources said Thursday.
The March 3 ruling by the Court of Cassation upheld the December decision of an appeals court in Bordeaux that ordered Einhorn freed on his own recognizance.The United States had appealed that decision.
Einhorn, 57, was arrested in the Bordeaux region on June 13, ending 16 years as a fugitive for the man once surrounded by rich and influential followers. He had been living under a false identity with his Swedish companion, Anika Flodin, in a restored mill outside Bordeaux.
A Philadelphia court convicted Einhorn in 1993 for the 1977 murder of Helen "Holly" Maddux of Tyler, Texas, sentencing him to life in prison.
Friends said Maddux, a Bryn Mawr graduate, had been trying to end her relationship with Einhorn. Police found her mummified remains stuffed in a trunk in his closet 18 months after she disappeared.
French law demands that people convicted in absentia be retried, and Einhorn's French lawyers had argued that he should be granted a new trial.
To that end, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge signed a bill in December to allow Einhorn a new trial if he returns to Pennsylvania. The legislation was immediately passed.
"Murderers should not be able to escape justice by fleeing this country," Ridge said at the time.