Ted Maher now says "It was an accident"

court tv online ^

[Jalapeno]

New Yorker pleads with Monaco court not to prosecute him in arson deaths

Ted Maher, left, could spend the rest of his life in a Monaco prison if convicted of killing billionaire Edmond Safra and a nurse in a fire he set in 1999.

By John Springer Court TV The 1999 deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and a private-duty nurse in a Monaco were a "terrible accident" and should not be prosecuted as intentional homicides, a New York man charged with setting the fire that killed them told an appeals court early this month.   Ted Maher, a 43-year-old nurse who had been on Safra's personal staff, made the claim that the deaths were accidental in prepared remarks he read in a hearing May 3 before three judges. The court is expected to issue a key ruling within weeks which could determine whether Maher goes home to upstate New York soon or if he will spend much of the rest of his life imprisoned in the tiny French principality on the Mediterranean. Edmond Safra A Monaco prosecutor asked the court at that closed-door hearing to uphold his decision to try Maher on charges of arson causing death. Maher's lawyers insist that although the defendant set a fire Dec. 3, 1999, in a wastepaper basket, he had no intention of harming anyone. Prosecutors say Maher changed his story quickly and confessed that he merely wanted to look like a hero in his wealthy employer's eyes when he set the fire, stabbed himself and cooked up a story about confronting two hooded intruders.   Maher's statement before the appeals court, which was obtained this week by Courttv.com, shows his frustration with a criminal justice system that his family claims is making Maher a scapegoat for the failure of police and firefighters to rescue Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente. Both died from toxic fumes spread by a fire inside Safra's fortified penthouse in Monaco.   Before the fire gutted the penthouse, Maher stumbled bleeding from knife wounds into the lobby of Safra's bank building to report the fire. Firefighters, however, were kept from launching a rescue mission for more than an hour after Maher was taken to a hospital because police believed the intruders were still inside.   "Today, I exercise my right to protest ...," Maher, with the support of his lawyers, began his remarks. "I fully realize how politically charged and biased this case has been.  Does this justify a wrongful outcome of justice or to pass it along to others?  Does this allow a blindness to the laws of the country?"   Maher than hit on a point that some of the lawyers on his five-member legal team stressed in arguments to the judges. "Without the intent can there be a crime?  I was involved in a terrible accident, in which I hold myself responsible for, to a point," Maher said. "So much time passed without intervention.  I am no more an arsonist than anyone here. Is an accident a crime?  No, it's not!  And that is my main point. This is and always will be a terrible accident for numerous parties concerned — nothing more or less."   Prosecutor Daniel Serdet could not be reached. Maher's lawyer in Monte Carlo, Donald Manasse, told Courttv.com after the hearing that the defendant was forceful and sincere while delivering his remarks to the court.   "When he speaks for himself he comes off very sincere," Manasse said. "He basically says, 'I'm only a nurse and a father. This is all much great than me and I am very much concerned that this is a political thing.' "   The death of Safra, one of the richest men in the world, touched of a legal battle between his widow, Lily Safra, and surviving brothers. The "brothers Safra," as they have become to be known in the European press, have been trying to get the pre-trial investigation to remain open out of a belief that perhaps Maher not act alone. Lily Safra's high-powered lawyer argued that there is no evidence that anyone other than Maher was responsible for the deaths.   According to Manasse, the prosecutor's argument was that although he believes Maher did not intend to cause the death, he is nonetheless responsible for the consequences of his actions for setting the fire. Serdet argued that Maher should be forced to answer the more serious arson causing deaths charge in criminal court and not the French equivalent of involuntary manslaughter.   If the judges rule that Maher can be prosecuted in criminal court, he could face life in prison if convicted. If the case is tried as a lesser crime in a correctional court, Maher would face only six years in prison. He has already been incarcerated for 30 months.   At the hearing, Maher's lawyers argued that the investigation and statements Maher made to police in 1999 about being attacked by intruders should be nullified on numerous procedural grounds. Manasse said that he argued that the first examining magistrate, Patricia Richet, failed to properly advise Maher of his right to counsel before she interrogated him on the record. The appeals court recently held that suspects should even be interrogated at their initial appearances, only asked if they want to make a statement, Manasse said.   Maher's lawyers also argued that a search of Maher's hotel room was illegal because he was not present and did not appoint a designee to be there. Although Maher's wife, Heidi Maher, was present for the search, Maher did not know that she was in Monaco. Heidi Maher claims that she was kidnapped by agents of Lily Safra and taken to a police station against her will so that her passport could be confiscated and shown to her husband to get him to confess.   Maher has dropped his claim that he was attacked by intruders but his lawyers and wife say that without evidence he intended to harm Safra or Torrente, the more serious charge is neither appropriate nor legal.   "Should the courts keep the arson charges against Ted, I will look forward to having Monaco, not Ted, on trial," Heidi Maher told Courttv.com. "[The defense] has prepared many worldwide experts to come into the trial to prove it was Monaco's police and firemen, not my husband, that killed Mr. Safra and Vivian Torrente. The same policemen that kidnapped both me and my brother to force Ted to confess. My husband was trying to save Mr. Safra and Vivian that night. The evidence clearly shows this. Monaco picked the wrong scapegoat. I will not give up my fight for showing the truth."   The court did not indicate how soon it will rule. A correctional trial — held for the lesser charges — could he conducted as early as July, if the court rules that way. A criminal trial most likely could not begin until September at the earliest.   Michael Griffith, a New York lawyer advising the defense, attended the hearing but was not permitted to address the court. We wanted them to know that if they do hold Ted to the higher charge, it's going to be a longer trial than they expected and we're going to put Monaco on trial," Griffith said. "If that happens people are going to find out that in Monaco it takes three years for an American to go to trial and when the wife goes over she gets kidnapped on the street."   Griffith said he expects a ruling by late May or the first week of June.

Comprehensive case coverage

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

A Deadly Cry for Attention- TIME Magazine

At least Ted Maher can't complain about the view. From a room near his cell, he can look out over the Mediterranean where sailboats heel with the wind and seagulls circle overhead. Gazing downward, he can see a public garden with pine trees, flower bushes and manicured lawns. It's the kind of vista he dreamed of when he accepted what he called the "best job" of his life and came to the Riviera six weeks ago. Trouble is, the window is located in the Monaco prison and Maher may spend the rest of his days behind bars.

His life took an irrevocable turn at 5 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 3, when what he later described as "dark ideas" propelled him into a bizarre charade that led to the death of his employer, Lebanese-born banker and philanthropist Edmond Safra, 67, one of the world's wealthiest men.

Maher, 41, an American nurse, had sought to win his boss's gratitude and emerge as a hero by staging an attack on Safra's bunker-like two-story penthouse. According to the Monaco police officials, Maher had stabbed himself twice with his own knife then shouted out that he was being attacked by two masked intruders. Safra, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, fled into a bathroom with another nurse and locked the steel-reinforced door. Maher then lit a fire in a wastebasket and rushed to the ground floor to alert the night watchman and call the police. But the blaze got out of hand and firemen were unable to persuade the terrified Safra to open the door--even though his wife, Lily, had allegedly told him by cell phone that the coast was clear. By the time firemen broke into the bathroom, more than two hours after the fire started, Safra and nurse Viviane Torrente, 52, had died of smoke inhalation. The fumes, ironically, reached the room through the fire detection system.

Following the initial reports of masked assailants, news of Safra's death set off a flurry of speculation. The favorite theory was that he had been assassinated by the Russian Mafia because his Republic National Bank of New York had last year alerted the FBI to money laundering operations emanating from Moscow. Another hypothesis was that the hit was somehow linked to the pending sale of the Republic National and the affiliated Safra Republic Holdings to Britain's HSBC Holdings for $9.85 billion, a deal that had nearly been derailed by the fraudulent operations of an agent working with Safra's bank. (The sale was approved last week, generating $2.8 billion for Safra's heirs.) Still other theories saw Safra, a Sephardic Jew who served as a key financial link between Israel and the Arab world, as a victim of Middle Eastern terrorists. None of the theories was any good for Monaco's proud image as high-security haven for the rich and famous.

From the beginning, Monaco police were mystified as to how two intruders could have got past a battery of security cameras and alarms. Videotapes showed no one going into or out of the elegant six-story Belle Epoque building, which also houses three banks. Maher, a heavy user of sedatives and described by prosecutors as "psychologically fragile," did not help matters by frequently changing his story. So two days after the tragedy, police entered Maher's room at Princess Grace Hospital and arrested him as the prime suspect.

Within hours, Maher cracked and told them the whole story. He had run afoul of a nurse named Sonia, a leading member of Safra's 12-strong medical staff, and decided to avenge himself by winning a promotion from the banker. He admitted staging the break-in and setting the fire--"accidentally," his lawyer says--but denied that he had ever intended to kill anyone. Officials believed him on that point. Said Monaco prosecutor Daniel Serdet: "If he had wanted to kill Safra, he would have had 10,000 chances a day." Maher said he was sorry about the deaths, but not the least of his regrets was that he had "spoiled the best job I ever had." He was charged with arson resulting in deaths and faces a possible life sentence.

Maher's Monegasque lawyer, Georges Blot, told Time that his client was motivated by his "affection" for Safra. "The first words Ted said to me when I met him were, 'This is horrible. I loved him. I admired him. I respected him. I don't understand why I did it.' He adored his boss and simply wanted to send him a signal and get his attention." As for Maher's frictions with head nurse Sonia, Blot says: "He was frustrated that she prevented a closer relationship between Ted and his boss."

If the inside-job scenario appeared to vindicate Monaco's security image, it raised a welter of unanswered questions. Maher spoke of setting only one fire, but investigators identified two separate sources for the blaze. The official version says Safra spoke to his wife twice on his cell phone but was too paranoid to open the door; other unconfirmed reports, however, say that Safra also phoned the police directly and begged them to liberate him from the bathroom. Though the police were first alerted shortly after 5 a.m., they did not call in the firemen for nearly half an hour. Safra's entire Israeli security force had remained at his villa in nearby Villefranche-sur-Mer that night; Safra was said to have wanted it that way, but it seemed a glaring security lapse to leave him without a single guard. According to a bank spokeswoman, security chief Shmule Cohen rushed to the apartment after the blaze started, but police initially blocked his access because he lacked the proper keys and ID. Had Cohen gotten in quickly, this source suggests, he may have been able to open the bathroom door or convince Safra to come out.

Troubled by the inconsistencies, Lily Safra's attorney, Geneva-based Marc Bonnant, last week formally requested access to the police files. "We would like to have all the details of the nurse's confession," he explains. "Was it credible and complete, what exactly pushed him to do what he did, how many fires did he set, are there any inconsistencies in his confession? A thousand questions come to mind which need answers to make any sense out of this tragic and absurd death."

Not the least of those questions involves Safra's own protection force. Widely reported to have obsessive fears for his life--though Bonnant, a longtime friend, strongly denies this--Safra recruited his security guards from among veterans of Israeli army special units. Yet some experts question the efficiency of his security operation. Says Jean-Louis Caniac, director of a U.S.-based security firm : "You do not leave a paranoid person with Parkinson's disease without physical security, even if an agent is simply acting as a baby-sitter. You do not put a steel door in front of a bathroom without having camera contact from the inside to the outside world. Most of all, you do not hire a nurse who has problems with depression and substance abuse."

In retrospect, the decision to bring Ted Maher into the intimacy of Safra's household was the biggest blunder of all. The New York Times reported that he was offered the job five months ago as a reward after finding an expensive camera at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and returning it to a man who turned out to be a close Safra associate. Safra attorney Bonnant says Maher may have been recommended as a result of that good deed, but he insists that the nurse had been carefully vetted through "in-depth background checks" and a personal interview with Mrs. Safra. "The fact that Maher is unstable became apparent to us only after the accident," Bonnant told Time. "Nothing in Maher's files showed the slightest trace of mental instability."

Maher must have provided the files. Tall, slender and blond-haired, the former U.S. Army medic was by most accounts a likable but headstrong man who would explode into fits of rage when challenged. Co-workers at Columbia-Presbyterian, where he worked for nine years, describe him as a caring professional. But his former landlord in Auburn, Maine, Colby Dill, remembers Maher mostly for his aggressive behavior. "When you were in the apartment, you wanted to make sure the door was between you and him," says Dill. "He made threats."

Maher's closest neighbor in East Fishkill, New York, his most recent U.S. residence, describes him as "a miserable bastard" who turned a property-line dispute into an open feud. "Maher and his wife would stand outside my house and scream curses and give me the finger," says Leonard Levelle, 70, recalling that the police had to be called in to mediate several times. On one occasion, says Levelle, "Maher knocked me down, started hitting me with his forearm and told me he would get a gun and kill me." Maher's first wife, Marla, who divorced him in 1991 alleging spousal abuse and drug use, told friends he had threatened to kill her and liked to play Russian roulette with a loaded pistol. He enrolled in the Las Vegas police academy in 1979, but dropped out less than three months later for unexplained reasons.

Clearly, Ted Maher was not the kind of guy you'd trust with your life. But Safra's people offered him $600 a day to help care for the ailing banker. Maher, who was reportedly making $60,000 a year at Columbia-Presbyterian, leapt at the chance to beef up his finances and live in luxury on the Riviera. He took a leave of absence from the hospital, bade farewell to his second wife, Heidi, and his three sons and joined Safra's staff five months ago. In that short time, he learned to love his boss and, in what his lawyer calls "the sad gesture of a sick man," sent him to a smoky death.

With reporting by Helena Bachmann/Geneva, Ed Barnes/East Fishkill, Joel Stratte-McClure/ Monte Carlo and Tom Witkowski/Boston

[harpseal]

Thank you, sir. I made my comments on Ted's Case before reading his statement and if one reads Ted's appeal the Court TV report and an similarity to what was actually written in the statement ends as soon as one gets past the the fact that Ted had no intent to harm and he reffered to the deaths as accidental.

I stand by my previous stements in support of Ted and call on everyone who is doubtful to rally to Ted's cause.

Haven't we all learned by now that when media slant their stories it is for a reason. The difference between the story as written and the text of the statement alone should be enough to convince people that an injustice is being done to Ted AND CAUSE MORE TO RALLY TO HIS SUPPORT. Free Republic is the home of many in the conservative movement. so many very long time tried and true Freepers have seen Ted's cause and rallied to it. The injustice against Ted and his family must be opposed.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[albee]

Ted bears a striking resemblance to Gary Condit in that photo! Seperated at birth?????

[Chemnitz]

With so much money involved it is hard to say what the truth is. It should make anyone think twice before working abroad. You are at the mercy of local customs, corruption, and the intrigues involving the rich and powerful.

[Registered]

More like Chad Condit.

[tracer]

I don't have any personal stake in this, but I am suspicious of any signed "confession" made outside of what we Americans fondly refer to as "due process" and in a legal system that is as inbred and corrupt as I understand to be the case in Monaco.

Perhaps Maher -- whose circumstances must have inflicted on him a great deal of duress (to say the least) -- is desperately trying to change his predicament to one of finite duration as opposed to the no doubt seemingly endless morass in which he exists. Or other scenarios someday may be shown to be the case here.

The history of American jurisprudence is replete with examples of defendants who pleaded or attempted to plead guilty to lesser offenses rather than be wrongfully convicted or even railroaded concerning more serious offenses. And Maher apparently cannot hope to be rescued by forensic DNA technology....

Although the world will little note nor long remember what we FReepers have to say about this case, it would appear that reserving judgment in the matter of Ted Maher at least would be fair, IMO/FWIW.

As one of my elderly Jewish friends used to say, "It couldn't hurt."

Prayers for Maher and his family in any event....

[strela]

With so much money involved it is hard to say what the truth is. It should make anyone think twice before working abroad. You are at the mercy of local customs, corruption, and the intrigues involving the rich and powerful.

Somebody carve these words, verbatim, into stone. They are the simple, unwavering truth regardless of which side of this controversy you find yourself agreeing with.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Now there is a reliable source, Time Magazine.
Read post 118 for the real facts.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Haven't we all learned by now that when media slant their stories it is for a reason."

Some FReepers just don't understand that concept.
Many of them believed the media when they said klintoon was innocent.
Many of them believed Gore won FL.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Oh, I guess the Time magazine article must be true. They got the "facts" from the NY Times. < / sarcasm>

[Cold Heat]

Thanks! The information on this case has been lacking. All I have read are pleas for release of a innocent man. Aparently there is a story here. This guy would do 20 if he was stateside, perhaps more. If he were in my county, he would probably be on death row.

I am glad I signed no petitions or got involved in this issue.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

More facts on post #147, along with interviews from neighbors, coworkers, exwife, friends. It's very well researched.

Knowledge is Power.

[RonDog]

ping

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Your "facts" from Time magazine and the NY Times are BS!
The real facts are in post 118

Time Magazine and NY Times

[AnnaZ]

God bless you both.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

I find it amazing that some FReepers actually believe such sources as Time Magazine and the NY Times.
They probably believe that Radio FR is not a reliable source of real facts.
Also note how certain FReepers attack Ted's wife but lack the courage to post to her directly.
Guess they are afraid to learn the real truth.

***Listen to the Radio FR AnnaZ and Mercuria
Interview with FReeper Mrs Maher (Ted's wife)***
The interview is the Jan 3, 2002 one in the Radio FR Archives
RadioFR Archives, Hear the shows you missed
Ted Maher is also the brother of FReeper Michael Maher

[blackie]

Bump !!

[Cold Heat]

Thank you both for your information. Although my opinion of what is true or untrue is virtually meaningless, it is good to have both sides of this story.

The fact that the two sides are so different and have absolutely no simularity is striking and leads one to believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Let's hope that the truth wins and the lies falter. (wishfull thinking)

In the interim, what is clear is that justice appears to be denied due to the lack of a speedy trial and missing evidence(for what ever reason).

If I advocate any position, it would be to quickly get to the bottom of this mess. His release or incarceration depends on justice being done. He is at least guilty of negligent homicide as I read it. Or, all these stories are complete fabrications.

I remain on the sidelines.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"In the interim, what is clear is that justice appears to be denied due to the lack of a speedy trial and missing evidence
(for what ever reason)."

The lack of a speedy trial is what really baffles me.
I'll be and sure and ping you to any new information.

[mr1776]

looks like there are a handful of hardcore supporters who have and will bump these threads again and again and again.

But with the new info it looks like it's clear that most folks are tired of it, and those who really care are keeping up on this on their own.