Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 21

a 208 'A NewsSun-Sentinel, Sunday, Oct. 7, 1984 They are afraid of me By Maud S. Beelman Ataociat4 Praaa Writer PEMBROKE PINES Marie tean Arlington's reputation as a cunning murderer who escaped once from a maximum security prison and could do so again dogs her to this day. The second woman to make the FBI's 10 most wanted list, the 51- year-old now spends her days in solitary confinement at the (Sroward Correctional Institution in western Broward County. SAVE OPAL nv ATT.

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I SERVING SOUTH FLORIDA FOR OVER 10 YEARS! nn Jr a i n' a ana ah II i Lol HI I Marie Dean Arrington by an inexperienced review panel, prison Superintendent Marta Villacorta said. "I am the only Woman in the state of Florida that has ever been confined (alone) this long," Mrs. I Arrington complained. She was transferred to Broward in 1981 from the Lake Butler Reception and Medical Center, where she was held in confinement for nine years, the only woman among more than 1,000 men. Before that, shortly after her capture, she was imprisoned at Raif ord, a maximum security prison for men.

"Obviously we consider her an escape risk. That's why she's on close management," Ms. Villacorta said, adding that Mrs. Arrington isn't a disciplinary problem. Mrs.

Arrington, who pledges to take her battle to federal court, is unhappy with the court-ordered hearing: left the decision up to the institution, up to the people that are fighting me, the people that I am fighting for my freedom. Why do they think I filed this petition in the beginning?" Mrs. Arrington, who dressed in jeans and jewelry for the interiew, can quote codes and regulations with the best of jailhouse lawyers. She is allowed to leave her 9-by-1 2-foot cell three times a week for showers. Under Department of Corrections close-management regulations, Mrs.

Arrington is allowed five hours a week of outside exercise, Ms. Villacorta said. "This I don't get," claimed the inmate. She eats her meals in her cell and talks to other inmates in her cell-block only through her "6-inch steel door, Mrs. Arrington said.

Her one luxury is a small television. Except for her exercise time, trips to the library are usually the only time Mrs. Arrington is outdoors. Mrs. Arrington, a native of Leesburg, was convicted of killing Vivian June Ritter, shot in the back of the head three times and then run over by a car, according to police reports.

Mrs. Ritter was secretary to the public defender who unsuccessfully defended two of Mrs. Arlington's children, both of whom were sent to prison. She has three other children. Mrs.

Arlington, who said she was working for convicted racketeer Harlan Blackburn at the time, claimed Thursday that Mrs. Ritter was the "innocent victim" of a rackets feud. When asked if she killed the woman, Mrs. Arrington answers "yes and no. I didn't do it, but I'm as guilty as the ones that did do it because I knew about it." Mrs.

Arlington's case goes be-. fore the state's Parole and Probation Commission this month. But for now she remains in "close management." "Just come out and say it's because I escaped from Lowell when I was on death row and I gave the state of Florida hell of a time catching me." aa -w rgi P.L. Bill KfQiV SOW? ri -1 iTve been confined this way since 72," said the woman who has been fighting her so-called "close Management" status in the courts since 1982. On Friday, her request ti join the general prison population again was denied.

i'Boy, they are afraid of me hete," she says laughingly. Mrs. Arrington was ordered to foF what police called the revenge murder of a Leesburg legal secretary in 1968. At the time of the murder, she was on appeal bond for i J967 manslaughter conviction in the shooting death of her husband, a crime which she now admits committing. In 1969, she slipped out of death row at the women's prison at Lowell and eluded authorities for nearly two years, until the FBI caught up with her in New Orleans.

The Legislature offered a $5,000 reward for her capture dead or alive. you are placed in a situation and you know that your life, or at least you feel that your life is going to be taken, you're going to do every damn thing you can to get out of fcr? said Mrs. Arrington, whose death sentence was' commuted to fife in 1972 when the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down the death penalty. Arrington said that she is unjustly being punished for an escape made in desperation years ago.

i'ln February, she filed a petition ith the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, claiming that her right to due process was vktiated because she was put in ilose management without a hearing and that hec confinement constituted crue) and inhuman i punishment. jThe court on July 13 rejected her Arguments, but ordered the institution to hold a hearing within 30 days "determine whether petitioner should remain in close management." The court abo had rejected a-1982 petition Mrs. Arrington filed, claiming that her civil rights were being violated. r.Mrs. Arrington, who passes the tin)e either in the prison's law library or studying cases in her ce- ment-walled room, filed a default motion when the prison still hadn't neld a hearing by September.

Finally, ori Sept 17, a prison re-View team ruled that Mrs. Arrington was still a security risk and refused to' change her status. Officials told her she was "being placed under dose management. I said, 'What have I been for tjhe last three Mrs. Arrington said during a prison interview Thursday.

Mrsw, Arrington wasn't invited to that hearing, as ordered by the court, and the prison heard her case again Friday with her present. omission was "just an error" On You MonC I 1 1 This Special is Bes. mm Check FreonLevri 'r finnn THRU Often qa4 j2 anrMCkU! BV IE WIIW- BaaaailBlBaBm m- a. ar" miii pi SAUEONA in to ftID rtr i aaaaaa vfJAUTY ESoGBaltiB 3 ESeBBSifl DIRECT FROM DIRECT FROM UPCMCKICIT jj ftrrwifu IIIGII EFFICIEE'CY- nin "way?) lUJt IIIGII EFFICIENCY nm SYSTET.1 9.0 SEED Our Price M7C0 Less 273 Rebate SYSTEu 9.0 SEEEI ii Our Price MSC3 Less 319 Rebate at Arthur G. Mayarson ALL ACCIDENT CASES NEGLIGENCE POM HIT KITH CLMM WWTMFKT Of AU.8TATI MS.

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The purpose of this hearing Is to discuss and take action on Resolution regarding a COLLECTION SYSTEM STUDY FOR TAMARAC LAKES SANI-1 TARY SEWER FOR THE CITY OF TAMARAC. Discussion wiH center on the FPtSV.2inWIS. PRODUCTS PROGRAM Licensed and Insured CMC 477 1 'Ok wat aaQtrtfni estimated monthly charge tor operation and maintenance of the system and estimated monthly charge to a typical residential customer for this proposed cotienction system, goal of the City is to acquire a Small Cities Grant. i THIS WILL ONLY" AFFECT THE RESIDENTS OF THE CITY LIVING EAST OF STATE ROAD 7. The public is encouraged to attend.

Pursuant to Secfior) 286.0105. Florida Statutes. If oerson decides to onditioning N0RTH broward 701-5502 SOUTH 522-1433 STATE LICENSED INSURED PALM BEACH 734-1332 appeal any decision made by the city Council with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearing, he win need a record of the pro cn II II ceedings end for such purpose, he may need to ensure that a verbatim record include the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal Is to be caw rcc based. basx I Marilyn Bertholf, City Clerk.