THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS	Local Wednesday, September 3, 1997

The smiling old hippie took the stand in a Bordeaux, France, court, and -- with his destiny staring him in the eye -- rambled on about ``Star Trek.''

During a morning extradition hearing before three judges, Einhorn pontificated for 15 minutes, using a French interpreter.

He was friends with ``Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry and pop star Peter Gabriel. The U.S. government wanted to eliminate him. Researchers all over the world thought he could help save the planet. He was tight with big shots in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

The CIA visited him. His documents disappeared. He was framed. It's a conspiracy.

Same Einhorn, different country.

One of Einhorn's French lawyers finally shut him up, discreetly suggesting that his explanations might turn off the judges.

Judge Michel Arrighi, who presided over the two-hour extradition hearing, said he will announce Sept. 23 whether Einhorn should be returned to a U.S. prison to face punishment for the 1977 bludgeoning death of his young girlfriend, Helen ``Holly'' Maddux.

Maddux's body was discovered two years later, rotting in a trunk in Einhorn's closet.

Einhorn, now 57, wore a green sweatshirt, jeans and black shoes to his court appearance. His Swedish wife, Annika Flodin, waited for Einhorn in a hallway of the courthouse.

The couple were living in a cottage in the tiny village of Champagne-Mouton, in southern France, when police caught up with Einhorn on June 13. Einhorn has been held since in a prison outside Bordeaux.

His two French attorneys put up quite a fight yesterday to keep the fugitive from coming back to the United States.

``The accused was always presented like a culprit,'' argued Dominque Delthil, a Bordeaux attorney. ``Someone wanted to make him an ideal culprit.''

Delthil and Paris lawyer Dominique Tricaud argued that Einhorn didn't receive a fair trial in Philadelphia in 1993 because he was tried in absentia. He was hounded by the law and the press, they said.

To help make that case, the attorneys entered the front page of two editions of the Daily News that reported on Einhorn's capture.

At times these arguments evolved into political statements against the United States. Sometimes, the facts in their arguments were wrong.

Tricaud told the judges that Assistant District Attorney Joel Rosen, who prosecuted Einhorn in 1993, was an elected official who wanted to use Einhorn's return to prison to help win re-election. Rosen is not an elected official.

``I appreciate the promotion, but it's an obvious lie,'' Rosen said yesterday after hearing about the lawyer's statement.

No one from the Philadelphia district attorney's office attended the hearing. The prosecutor's case was presented by attorney Christine Chastenet.

Tricaud also told the judge that the DA's office never told Einhorn when to appear in court.

``When he was in Ireland under his true identity, the date of his trial was never communicated to him,'' Tricaud said.

Einhorn, Rosen said, was in Ireland because he skipped bail and fled the country to avoid his 1981 trial. Einhorn knew the trial date was just two weeks away.

The killer spent the next 16 years running from the law.

``It's the same old scam, he's just got another group of people to try it on,'' Rosen said.

Philadelphia Online -- Philadelphia Daily News -- Local News Copyright Wednesday, September 3, 1997