Testimony of Von Bulow’s Lover Rejected

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Superior Court judge ruled today that damaging 1982 testimony by Claus von Bulow’s former lover, believed to be out of the country to avoid testifying again, could not be used at his retrial on charges that he tried to kill his wife.

In a serious blow to the state’s case, Judge Corinne P. Grande said Alexandra Isles’ testimony could not be admitted because the state had not tried hard enough to locate her. Jurors in Von Bulow’s first trial said the testimony helped lead to their guilty verdict, which later was overturned.

The state had asked during a four-day hearing to be allowed to introduce her videotaped testimony or transcripts of her testimony. Defense attorneys had argued the state had not met its obligation of diligently trying to locate Isles.

Grande praised the state for some of its efforts. But she listed more than a dozen steps the state did not take to find Isles, including not contacting various federal, foreign and international agencies.

Von Bulow was convicted in 1982 of charges that he twice tried to murder his wife, Martha (Sunny) von Bulow, with insulin injections. The convictions were overturned last year on state constitutional grounds.

At the first trial, Isles said she gave Von Bulow a deadline to marry her which fell shortly before Sunny von Bulow’s first coma.