THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702020129
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: 91 lines
In what may be the ultimate legal technicality, abortion clinic gunman John C. Salvi III's two murder convictions have been wiped out, and all criminal charges have been dismissed, because he died before the state's highest court could review his trial.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara, who presided at Salvi's trial and sentenced him to life in prison after a jury convicted him, voided the indictments and convictions Jan. 21 at the request of appellate attorney James Sultan.
Since Salvi is dead, the judge's ruling has no practical effect. But the idea that the criminal justice system that convicted Salvi has now reversed itself and set aside the verdicts infuriated relatives and co-workers of the victims.
Sultan said Friday he invoked a little-known legal principle after Salvi committed suicide in his cell at Walpole state prison Nov. 29, 1996. For at least 25 years, the Supreme Judicial Court has held that if a defendant dies before a conviction is reviewed, the charges are dismissed.
``Mr. Salvi is no longer with us, so I think he has suffered the ultimate punishment,'' Sultan said. ``In our legal system, everybody is entitled to have the fairness of their conviction reviewed on appeal before it is considered legally final and binding. John Salvi never had that opportunity.''
Ruth Nichols, whose daughter, Lee Ann, was shot 10 times by Salvi in one of two clinics he attacked in Brookline in 1994, said Friday that she was ``outraged'' by the ruling and angered that Sultan would seek it.
``That piece of paper wipes his slate clean,'' she said of Dortch-Okara's order. ``I have a piece of paper that tells me she had to have an autopsy after he pumped 10 bullets into her. They had to take her body apart. I can't wipe her autopsy clean. It's there. And so should his conviction be there.''
``It's as if John Salvi is coming from the grave to bring me some hurt,'' Nichols told WBZ-TV.
The parents of Salvi's second victim, Shannon Lowney, could not be reached for comment.
Salvi began his shooting spree at the Planned Parenthood clinic, pulling out a .22-caliber rifle and opening fire. Lowney, 25, was killed and three other people in the waiting room were wounded.
Salvi then drove his blue Toyota pickup about two miles to the Preterm Health Services clinic and opened fire again, killing Nichols, 38, and injuring two others.
``This is what you get! You should pray the rosary,'' Salvi screamed as he pumped bullets into Nichols, witnesses testified.
Salvi was arrested the next day, New Year's Eve 1994, after firing 23 bullets from a .22-caliber rifle through the glass doors of the Bel-Aire Building on East Little Creek Road in Norfolk. The building is the site of the Hillcrest Clinic. No one was hurt in that attack.
After Salvi was arrested, he spent the next six days in Norfolk City Jail. He was charged in Norfolk with a felony - shooting into an occupied building - but that was withdrawn so Salvi could be prosecuted for murder in Massachusetts.
The Norfolk charge was never refiled.
Sultan said Salvi's parents, John and Ann Marie, were ``thrilled'' to learn that Dortch-Okara had approved the motion to drop the murder charges, which Sultan said ``vindicates'' Salvi's memory. He said the request to erase Salvi's convictions was not designed to help the Salvis if they sue the state as a result of their son's suicide in prison.
``I don't think this has any practical effect or legal consequence other than to give them some peace of mind as they grieve for their son,'' he said.
Sultan said they had planned to argue to the Supreme Judicial Court that Salvi was mentally incompetent and should never have been tried. He said he also would have argued Salvi should have been found not guilty by reason of insanity, an argument the Superior Court jury rejected.
``Those were critical issues in this case and those were the issues which our state supreme court will never have an opportunity to review,'' Sultan said. ``Nobody has, from day one, ever contested the fact that John Salvi killed these innocent individuals. That was a terrible thing.''
District Attorney Jeffrey Locke, who was not in office during the Salvi case, said Friday he was confident the Supreme Judicial Court would have found that Salvi was given a fair trial and would have upheld his convictions. Salvi's suicide, he said, prevents the court from looking at the case. ``The final injustice committed by Salvi is denying the public that review,'' Locke said.
He also said Dortch-Okara was bound by prior court decisions and that the U.S. Supreme Court follows a similar practice of voiding convictions where they have not been reviewed by an appellate court.
``It's truly a quirk (that's) very rarely encountered,'' Locke said. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Boston Globe and The
Associated Press. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John C. Salvi III committed suicide in his cell at Walpole state
prison in November. A little-known legal principle supported his
lawyer's request.