Conviction in ’76 Death Upset Over 7-Year Trial Delay

Psychologist Eugene Clarence Hartman, 56, convicted of second-degree murder in the 1976 death of his boss, John Langlos, has been freed by the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

The Hayward, Calif., man’s 1983 conviction was the climax of a long battle by Langlos’ widow to persuade authorities that her husband was the victim of murder and not a heart attack.

In an opinion issued late Wednesday and written by Justice Armand Arabian, with Justices Joan Dempsey Klein and George Danielson concurring, the court reversed Hartman’s conviction on grounds that the district attorney’s delay of seven years in charging Hartman with murder illegally prejudiced his right to due process.

Not only did witnesses who could have provided Hartman an alibi die or disappear, Arabian said, but the coroner’s office “pathetically ‘misplaced’ ” Langlos’ brain and heart after autopsies.

When psychologist Langlos, 52, was found dead under his desk at the Lakewood Park Psychiatric Health Center on Feb. 2, 1976, death was attributed to a heart attack, even though his wallet was missing and three buttons were torn from his shirt.

Hartman was charged with grand theft later that month because he cashed a $100 check drawn on Langlos’ account, identified himself with Langlos’ driver’s license and credit cards and used Langlos’ credit card to purchase a watch and airline tickets. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was fined $500, credited with 34 days spent in jail and placed on five years’ probation.

However, he was not charged with murder until April, 1983. Over the intervening years, the victim’s widow, Ruth Langlos, hired private pathologists, forced authorities to conduct an inquest and persuaded the Board of Supervisors to ask the district attorney to reopen the case.

The court ruled that the district attorney’s delay between 1977, when it obtained new expert evidence gathered by Ruth Langlos, and 1983, when murder charges were filed, was “without any justification whatever.”

“The combination of circumstances chronicled here,” Arabian wrote, “violated fundamental fairness, the touchstone of due process.”

Although the court overturned the conviction on federal constitutional grounds, it said Hartman also should be freed under California case law requiring all offenses stemming from the same act to be tried at the same time.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger T. Kelly, who prosecuted Hartman in the 1983 jury trial, said he was “very disappointed” by the reversal, which he said frees Hartman without possible retrial.

“As far as this office is concerned,” Kelly said, “we did everything we could to get the case to trial as soon as possible, garnering knowledge of what had occurred over a protracted period.”

Further Appeal

Deputy Atty. Gen. Robert F. Katz said he would have to study the decision before he would comment. His office would handle any further appeal. Hartman must remain in prison until a decision is made.

Deputy State Public Defender James A. Uyeda, who represented Hartman in the appeal, said he was not surprised by the reversal, because the delay in prosecuting Hartman clearly violated the man’s rights to due process.

Ruth Langlos could not be reached for comment.