I suppose it would be great to get into the background of Ira's case, so what we need is some links. Ah, glorious links. The TIME article, printed Friday, Jul. 20, 2001, is a sad first stop for many readers who will believe anything that TIME stands behind. There are many glaring problems with the article and this, without question made an important impact on how people feel to this very day when Ira's name is mentioned.
Steve Lopez wrote the article with extreme slant, and it included several misinterpretations of fact. It seems that writing about Ira Einhorn as a guilty murderer is a popular strategy. Ask Steven Levy (or wait, we'll get there...).
According to the Lopez Time article:
Tricaud argued that sending Einhorn home to America would violate his civil liberties. The French have trials in absentia, but someone so convicted in France gets a new trial once captured. Extradite Einhorn, and he could be put to death with no chance to defend himself, Tricaud wrongly told the judges. (Einhorn's sentence was life in prison, not death.) In a later interview, an adamant Tricaud described the case as an opportunity for the French to "give the United States a lesson in human rights."
But the story, if you were from the pro-Ira angle had this take: With the odds of obtaining an equitable trial dwindling as the trial neared, where favorable evidence was systematically neglected or hidden, and fearing for his life (the death penalty was re-established in 1978), in January 1981 Ira Einhorn left the USA for Europe some weeks before the trial date.
It should be noted this does need some research, as does the intro of what became to be known as the "Einhorn Law".
Ok, so you don't care yet because of the trunk and Ira's "blase" attitude and all that. Just sayin, man. Perceptions. France is big on human rights.
Maybe Ira doesn't deserve a second look, and many people who used to support Ira are now sober and with the changing times have come changing perspectives. We are just getting started folks, there is so much and we want to be as comprehensive as humanly possible. Just keep in mind that I'm not a disbarred lawyer, I'm just an everyday guy going in for a deeper look at the case.
You found what you found.
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