Jury Ponders Case of Escapee Who Says Deputy Aided Him

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday in the jail-escape case against Ivan Von Staich, a convicted murderer who claims that an Orange County deputy sheriff helped him and another prisoner break out in exchange for a promise of $10,000.

The prosecutor, in closing arguments Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, told the jury: “The bottom-line question is who are you going to believe? Are you going to believe an officer, or are you going to believe this defendant, a felon?”

The case went to the jurors at 3:12 p.m. and they deliberated for about an hour before recessing for the day. They are scheduled to resume this morning at 10.

Von Staich, 32, is charged with escaping from County Jail on Jan. 26, 1986, while awaiting sentencing after being convicted of bludgeoning a former girlfriend with a claw hammer in 1983 and fatally shooting her husband.

His escape triggered a national manhunt. Von Staich was captured in Massachusetts about a month after the escape and returned to California.

Von Staich subsequently was sentenced to 37 years to life for the murder conviction, which he is currently serving. His trial on the felony escape charge began Feb. 8 before Superior Court Judge Linda Hodge McLaughlin.

Acting as his own lawyer during the trial, Von Staich based his defense on law that allows acquittal in jail-escape cases under certain conditions, including whether the defendant’s life was in peril.

Says He Feared for Life

In his testimony, Von Staich said he feared for his life because he was beaten by deputies at the jail in October, 1985. He produced photos of his beaten face and body as proof of his charge.

The prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. William Overtoom, in his closing arguments Wednesday, conceded that Von Staich had been beaten in jail. But Overtoom said Von Staich had many opportunities during court appearances in the fall of 1985 to let authorities know if he felt his life were in danger.

Overtoom Wednesday called the bulk of Von Staich’s account of why and how he escaped from jail as “a wagon full of baloney.”

According to Von Staich, he and another prisoner, Robert J. Clark, 23, of Palm Springs, were taken to a rooftop jail recreation area on Jan. 26, 1986. Von Staich said Sheriff’s Deputy Frank Nin made a deal with Clark, for a promise of $10,000, to let the two men escape.

Von Staich said Nin cooperated by handcuffing himself inside a restroom on the rooftop. He and Clark then lowered themselves down from the roof via electrical cords and makeshift ropes and escaped, Von Staich claimed.

Nin, however, in his testimony last week, claimed that he was caught by Clark in a chokehold and forced to surrender. Nin said Von Staich’s story is “a lie.”

‘Look at the Facts’

But in his closing arguments to the jury, Duane Neary, a Santa Ana lawyer assisting Von Staich, said the jurors should “look at the facts” in the jail escape. Neary said the facts show that Nin was alone on the roof with the two prisoners, did not have them in leg irons and did not suffer any major injuries.