From: kberry@sactoh0.sac.ca.us (Kim A. Berry)
Subject: Joe Hunt "Billionaire Boys Club" Mistrial
Followup-To: misc.legal 
Keywords: Hunt Billionaire 
Reply-To: kberry@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US (Kim A. Berry)
Organization: Sacramento Public Access Unix, Sacramento, Ca.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 05:21:54 GMT

 Press Release
For More Information, Call:
Ed Berry, PhD
(916) 344-7222
For Release 8:00 PM PST
December 14, 1992

  California Will Waste $4 Million on a Retrial of Joe Hunt

Sacramento -- The State of California attempted to get Joe 
Hunt convicted of planning the 1984 murder of Hedayat Eslaminia 
and failed. The State took its best shot and lost. The trial 
began in March and ended on December 9, 1992, the longest trial 
in San Mateo County history. Two full-time attorneys from the 
State Attorney General's office and a special agent including 
Deputy Attorney General John Vance went against Joe Hunt who 
was defending himself. Three professionals against one amateur. 
The final score after a record 26 days of jury deliberation: 
State 4 -- Hunt 8.

In basketball this is a defeat of 80 vs 160: a third world 
country against the "Dream Team." In politics, getting 33% of 
the vote is a resounding defeat and 67% is a landslide victory. 

Now the State of California, deep in debt, is considering 
running the trial again. Why? The State's chance of winning is 
Zip, unless they can make Hunt's life so miserable in jail that 
he cannot do a good job of defending himself. 

Zip? Let's put it this way. The jury was a random 
selection since Hunt accepted the first draw. After the trial 
they voted 2 to 1 in Hunt's favor. The probability that the 
State can filter enough future jurors to get all 12 to vote for 
conviction is approximately one-third to the 12th power, or 
about 1 in 530,000 trials. Put another way, if 530,000 separate 
juries independently watched the trial, only one might be 
expected to be so composed as to give all 12 votes to the 
State. This is Lotto territory at up to $4 million a ticket. 
How much money does the State have to waste? 

Why should the State even consider a retrial? Is it their 
ego? Is it job security? Is it some government cover-up to 
protect? We will consider this possibility in a moment. By all 
common sense reasoning, Hunt has proved his innocence. The 
State should withdraw its accusations against Hunt in the death 
of Eslaminia. 

The State's only evidence against Hunt is the testimony of 
Dean Karny who now lives under a new name in the Government's 
protection program. Karny confessed to his involvement in the 
death of Eslaminia. The State gave Karny an opportunity to plea 
bargain. He could either spend his life in prison or finger 
some other people and get his freedom plus a lifetime allowance 
of $45,000 per year. Karny is no dummy. He made up a good 
story. The State used Karny's story to accuse Hunt and others. 
The trouble is Karny is lying.

Karny is on the street while innocent people are in jail. 
Karny is not just on the street, he is now an attorney. He may 
be the judge at your trial someday. The Government forced the 
State Bar to accept Karny after he passed the bar exam. 

Part of Hunt's defense was a team of expert witnesses 
culminating in a computer-based simulation model which showed 
that Karny's story as told under oath is an impossible 
scenario. Karny said Eslaminia was still alive and talking from 
within the box after six hours. According to Karny, the box was 
inside a U-Haul van that was driven from Belmont, CA, toward 
Los Angeles on the hot summer afternoon of July 30, 1984. The 
experts showed that even a fit young man constrained as Karny 
testified would have been unable to talk after one hour and 
would have been dead after two hours. Eslaminia, 56 and out of 
shape, had no chance to survive such an alleged ordeal.

In post-trial interviews, all 12 jurors said that they 
believed the expert witnesses were accurate and that Karny was 
lying. Yet four jurors concluded that Hunt was guilty even 
though there was no evidence to support their conclusion. This 
is significant. It means that the State scored zero on Karny's 
testimony. The State won its 4 votes on subjectivity and not on 
logic.  

The State set up the courtroom to obtain a psychological 
advantage on the jury. The three State attorney's sat close to 
the jury and were able to wander about the courtroom. They 
stood behind seated defense witnesses. They stared close-up 
into the eyeballs of the jury. Meanwhile, Hunt was constrained 
to remain behind the desk on the far side of the courtroom well 
removed from the jury. He could not move about the room. He was 
a much smaller image in the eyes of the jury and a more distant 
voice than those of the prosecutors. 

In spite of these obstacles, Joe Hunt brilliantly defended 
himself. According to a regular courtroom watcher, Hunt 
outclassed the professionals. In spite of loss of sleep, Hunt 
gathered energy to counter the prosecution's strategic moves.

Outside the trial, Hunt worked from a small, windowless, 
poorly lighted room in the San Mateo County jail. Each 
afternoon he was ushered back to his prison cell. Hunt tried to 
sleep each night surrounded by continuous jail noise and 
crawling bugs. The jail crew wakened him at 4:00 am for 
breakfast. Some days he wasn't given a chance to shave. 
Meanwhile, the three State attorneys left each afternoon, saw 
real daylight, breathed fresh air, had a good dinner, got a 
good night's sleep, took weekends off, and had little concern 
about their own personal welfare.

Hunt presented government witnesses who testified that 
Eslaminia was not just an advisor to Khomeni, Shah of Iran, he 
was also a major importer of drugs into the USA. The US 
Government made Eslaminia a deal: we will let you continue to 
import drugs to kill our teenagers if you promise to 
assassinate Khomeni. As it turned out, Eslaminia died first. 
Why was Eslaminia really killed and by whom? The US Government 
is keeping its data top secret. Meanwhile, isn't it convenient 
to have a fall guy like Hunt to take the rap. If this is a 
Government conspiracy then one reason the State may decide to 
retry Hunt even with no chance of winning is to keep Hunt off 
the street as long as possible. 

Consider Karny. When Karny appeared at the trial as the 
State's witness he had more armed protection and body guards 
than the US President. Who is Karny being protected from? 
Certainly not from Hunt. Such protection suggests a high-level 
Government cover-up related to US - Iran affairs in 1984. 

Some people say, "Well, Hunt is guilty of the murder of 
Ron Levin so he's a murderer anyway." However, facts suggest 
otherwise. Levin's body has never been found. He just 
disappeared. During this trial, one witness testified that she 
had personally seen Levin in Greece after his disappearance 
from the USA. Another witness testified that she had seen the 
infamous note on Levin's desk while visiting Levin two days 
before he disappeared. Therefore, this was not a note that Hunt 
accidentally left at the scene as the State has contended. The 
testimonies of these two witnesses destroy the State's case 
against Hunt in the alleged "murder" of Levin.

The State should not retry Hunt for the murder of 
Eslaminia. The State cannot realistically hope to convict Hunt 
through a retrial. The State may try to profile those jurors 
who voted for the State -- over 65 and living in the expensive 
suburb of Hillsborough -- and to filter the next selection of 
jurors to match this profile. Such an attempt would be 
pathetic. 

The State has not released figures on the amount it spent 
on the Hunt trial. There are the costs for attorneys, 
courtroom, and judge. There are the personal costs of the 
jurors and their employers. There are the costs to pay and 
protect Karny. The State bears the responsibility for the costs 
of  Hunt's defense. The State put Hunt in the position of being 
guilty by accusation until he could prove himself innocent. The 
State will waste taxpayers' time and money on a retrial. 
Governor Wilson should not allow a retrial. 


Ed Berry, PhD, physics, was an expert witness for 
Hunt's defense. He created and presented the computer-
based simulation model used to test Karny's story. 

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
     (Mr.) Kim Berry              kberry@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US

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