Suspect in Slaying ‘Snatched’ to L.A. : D.A. Takes Advantage of Error in Tucson to Grab Actress’ Fan

Prosecutors pounced on a defense attorney’s error today and brought back to Los Angeles the man suspected of murdering “My Sister Sam” actress Rebecca Schaeffer.

District Atty. Ira Reiner said his office raced to “snatch” 19-year-old Robert Bardo from Tucson after they realized that his lawyer had filed a challenge to the extradition in the wrong court.

Bardo had been held in Tucson since his arrest last month in the July 18 slaying. Police said he was an obsessed fan of the 21-year-old actress, who was shot in the chest at the door to her apartment building.

Lori Lefferts, a Pima County, Ariz., deputy public defender, had filed a challenge to his extradition on grounds of mental incompetency, but it was in the wrong court. On Wednesday she said she would file another petition.

‘This Is Not a Game’

The lawyer apparently thought that she had eight days to challenge the extradition, but Reiner said, “She didn’t have eight minutes.”

“This is not a game,” Reiner said at a news conference. “This is murder, and if we are able to move into Tucson and snatch him, we are going to do that.”

Reiner said the quick move averted a protracted legal battle over Bardo’s mental competence.

Lefferts was not immediately available for comment. Carol Schroeder, a spokeswoman in the Pima County public defender’s office, said Lefferts was angered by Bardo’s release.

Reiner said it was literally “a race against the clock” for police, who flew to Tucson late Wednesday in an attempt to get there before the court clerk’s office closed at midnight.

Their flight was delayed four times, but with an escort by Tucson police officers, the investigators made it in time to complete paper work, take custody of Bardo and fly him back to Los Angeles on a 6 a.m. flight.

Los Angeles Warrant

Bardo had been held in Tucson on a warrant issued by authorities in Los Angeles, where Schaeffer was shot to death July 18.

Bardo was taken into custody July 19 in Tucson after he ran in and out of traffic on Interstate 10 near a downtown exit.

Detectives said statements by Bardo prompted them to notify Los Angeles authorities investigating the death of Schaeffer.

Bardo, who lived at his parents’ Tucson home, had collected videotapes of Schaeffer’s TV show, was once thrown out of a TV studio where Schaeffer was working, sent her a rambling love letter and had hired a detective agency to find her address, officials have said.