THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050439
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
State and federal authorities have hammered out a deal to return John C. Salvi III - the apprentice hairdresser accused of killing two Massachusetts abortion clinic workers, then shooting up a Norfolk clinic - to Boston as early as today.
At 9 a.m., Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Charles D. Griffith Jr. will ask a General District Court judge to set aside local charges against Salvi of shooting into an occupied building, court and law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Salvi was charged Saturday with spraying 23 rounds from a semiautomatic .22-caliber rifle into the first floor of the building where Hillcrest Clinic is located.
Salvi will be returned to the Norfolk Jail, where he will be released into the custody of federal marshals. He will be taken to U.S. District Court for an initial appearance before a federal magistrate at 11 a.m., officials said.
Griffith would not return reporters' phone calls on Wednesday, but a state prosecutor in Massachusetts said Tuesday that he expects Griffith to drop the Norfolk charges, clearing the way for Salvi's return. Norfolk law enforcement officials have also indicated this is Griffith's plan.
Griffith agreed to hold off trying Salvi until after his murder trial, William Delahunt, the Norfolk County, Mass., district attorney, told The Boston Globe.
Federal prosecutor Mike Smythers said in Norfolk, Va., Wednesday that, once Virginia charges are deferred, he expects Salvi to be returned to Massachusetts almost immediately. ``It's going to be pretty quick, I expect,'' Smythers said.
Federal marshals have indicated to local law enforcement officials that they plan to fly Salvi out of Norfolk International Airport, sources said.
On Wednesday, a federal grand jury in Boston indicted Salvi on two counts of transporting a firearm across state lines to intimidate or harm abortion clinic workers or clients. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
More seriously, Salvi, of Hampton, N.H., faces murder and attempted murder charges in state court in Massachusetts. He is accused of gunning down two receptionists at abortion clinics in the Boston suburb of Brookline within 10 minutes of each other on Friday. Killed were Shannon E. Lowney, 25, and Leanne Nichols, 38. Salvi is also accused of wounding five others during the rampage.
U.S. prosecutors told The Associated Press on Tuesday that they were considering filing federal death-penalty charges against Salvi in Massachusetts, a state without capital punishment.
Under a federal law passed last spring guaranteeing access to clinics, the maximum penalty for killing someone in a clinic is life imprisonment. But the new federal crime bill, which went into effect in November, provides the death penalty for some felonies involving a gun in which a person is killed.
Investigators who searched Salvi's truck after his arrest Saturday in Norfolk found a plastic bag filled with anti-abortion literature, a box of according to a search warrant and affidavit unsealed Wednesday in federal court.
On Saturday, Salvi tossed a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle out the window of his truck when he was stopped by officers moments after the shooting at Hillcrest Clinic, police said. He was stopped three blocks from the abortion clinic after a city arson inspector radioed police about the shooting, in which no one was hurt.
Federal investigators found four highway maps in Salvi's black Toyota pickup truck bearing New Hampshire license plates, a motel receipt dated Dec. 30, atlases of Boston and eastern Massachusetts and a copy of the Nynex Yellow Pages. The inventory did not specify the locations of the maps or the location of the motel Salvi checked into.
Other items found in the truck included $59 in cash, empty beer cans and beer bottles, a hunting knife, a red-handled shovel and milk containers.
The day after his arrest, federal agents visited Salvi in jail and questioned him in connection with any possible conspiracy involving local anti-abortionists, law enforcement officials said. Salvi reportedly did not answer their questions.
It is still unclear why Salvi came to Norfolk.
``I heard rumors that he came down here to contact us. . . I also heard rumors that authorities found my name'' in Salvi's truck, said Donald Spitz, director of the Chesapeake-based Pro-Life Virginia, who signed a 1993 petition supporting the use of force to protect unborn children.
``I also heard a rumor that he came down because there were a couple of safe houses down here.. . . places where you could go and be safe if you did anything,'' Spitz said on Tuesday. He then denied knowing Salvi and said he had no comment about the location or existence of safe houses.
``Why would he shoot out the windows of Hillcrest if he was trying to hide?'' Spitz said.
Local law enforcement authorities are reportedly discounting the existence of any organized anti-abortion conspiracy that Salvi was seeking out on his flight from murder charges in Massachusetts. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday there were no lists of names or places in Salvi's truck that would indicate he worked with anyone in the area.
In fact, Salvi apparently didn't know who Spitz was, jail officials said. Soon after his arrest, Salvi was asked whether he wanted to meet with ``Rev. Donald Spitz.'' Salvi answered that he didn't know anyone by that name and preferred to see a Catholic priest.
On Wednesday, a subdued Salvi, recovering from what he contends was food poisoning from tainted ham sandwiches in the jail, was being held in isolation under constant watch by a guard. On Wednesday he ate candy, potato chips and other packaged snacks ordered from the jail canteen, jail officials said.
Results of a blood test to determine whether Salvi had food poisoning were negative, said jail spokesman George Schaefer. A jail doctor said Salvi's symptoms appeared ``flu-like,'' jail officials said. MEMO: Staff writer Mike Mather contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: John C. Salvi III is accused of killing 2 near Boston, then
shooting up a Norfolk abortion clinic.
KEYWORDS: CLINIC SHOOTINGS AFTERMATH ANTI-ABORTION by CNB