Fugitive Ira Einhorn, with his wife, Annika Flodin, leaves prison after a French court allowed his release until a winter extradition hearing. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

Einhorn, who was tried and convicted in absentia for the 1977 murder of his girlfriend Holly Maddux, was ordered to report to his local police station three times a week between now and the Dec. 1 hearing.

It was the second time French authorities have jailed and released Einhorn, who eluded U.S. justice for nearly two decades before he was arrested last year. He was well-known in Philadelphia in the 1960s as a leader of the local antiwar movement and once ran for mayor.

Einhorn, 57, wearing a scruffy black T-shirt, jeans and sandals, appeared relaxed but focused during the hearing. He often smiled and made eye contact with his Swedish wife, Annika Flodin.

"The reason I want to be released is because of what prison does to me," Einhorn told the judge. "It has ruined my life."

Flodin gasped as the ruling granting her husband freedom for now was read, then ran from the courtroom. She called the extradition request "a legal attempt to kidnap my husband," adding that it was "100 percent void of human rights."

In arguing for his release, Einhorn's attorney said there was widespread bias in the United States against his client. "Ira must be released because this will be evidence that France is not a banana republic, bowing to U.S. pressure," attorney Dominique Tricaud said.

William Davol, spokesman for Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, said yesterday that Abraham "would very much like to say more than she can at this point."

"The French courts very much view public statements by officials who are in charge of investigations or prosecutors as eroding the presumption of innocence," he said. "So until such time as the December date comes and moves forward, there isn't a lot we can say."

Jacques Defos Du Raul, the French prosecuting attorney who is arguing the case for the U.S. Department of Justice and Philadelphia, said the judges yesterday did not explain why they decided to release Einhorn.

Based on past practice, he said, the judges must have felt Einhorn "presented sufficient guarantees" to "ensure he would appear at his trial."

According to defense attorney Dominique Delthil, there could be an additional extradition hearing if needed after the first Dec. 1 date. He said that it would likely take the judges about a month to decide the case after it is fully heard.

Delthil was so sure of his case that he predicted, "The court will never decide in favor of the extradition of Einhorn."

Einhorn was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the murder of Maddux, whose corpse was found stuffed in a trunk in his closet. Einhorn has said he is innocent.

In December, a French court refused to extradite Einhorn, who was arrested earlier that year in southwest France. The ruling, based on a French law that would have required Einhorn be retried in Pennsylvania, infuriated U.S. lawmakers and Maddux's friends and family.

At the time, Pennsylvania did not allow for such retrials. But this year, authorities in the state passed a law that would give Einhorn a new trial if he is extradited.

The United States has since filed a second extradition request. Einhorn was rearrested Sept. 20.

Delthil said the law passed to grant Einhorn a retrial was unfair. "Pretending he can have a new trial is a lie," Delthil said.

Maddux repeatedly tried to end her relationship with Einhorn, friends said. When she disappeared, Einhorn said she had gone shopping and never returned.

But when neighbors 18 months later told police of a stench coming from Einhorn's apartment, her battered remains were found. Forensic experts said her skull had been smashed six times.

Weeks before he was due to be tried, Einhorn, granted bail after wealthy contacts packed a courtroom to vouch for his character, fled the United States.