The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 291

Deaths I 9BR For Your Information I 9BR Classifieds I 10BR Saturday June 3001984 The Miami Herald Section BR 4 Deaths 9BR Lt--' 'i' r- For Your Information 9BR ti 1 i I CI' Classifieds 10BR Saturday June 3001984 The Miami Herald Section BR D11' et i se: FA trhi se 4 4 i 'i i tt 44 aall 'I killed her I stabbed her with a knife with a knife I stabbed her in the heart in the heart' John Purvis le By LAURA MISCH Herald Stall Writer In a soft hurried voice John Purvis described how he murdered neighbor Susan Hamwi and left her baby daughter to starve to death last November: "I killed her I stabbed her with a knife with a knife I stabbed her in the heart in the heart I strangled her with a cord with a cord I just left the baby" Purvis 43 who has a history of mental problems recanted the tape-recorded confession the day after he gave it in January His attorney Richard Kirsch says Fort Lauderdale police coerced his schizophrenic client into confessing and claims they denied him access to legal counsel during initial questioning Kirsch has asked the court to suppress the tape as evidence A pretrial hearing on the matter before Broward Circuit Judge Thomas Coker Jr was continued Friday until Aug 9 The state has rested Kirsch said he expects to call several more witnesses who will testify that Purvis told the police what they wanted to hear so he could go home The murder trial is scheduled to begin Aug 13 Purvis is being held without bond at the Pompano Detention Center on two counts of murder and one count of sexual 1 battery The confession is the key element in the prosecution's case Little if any physical evidence has been found to link Purvis to the murders "Without the confession I'm not sure whether we'd be able to go ahead or not" said Assistant State Attorney Rob Carney Hamwi 38 was found dead Nov 8 on the kitchen floor of her home at 1656 Poinsettia Dr with a knife stuck in her chest Shane her infant daughter was discovered in her crib dead from dehydration Purvis lived with his mother three doors down He told police he was in love with Hamwi and she rejected him Hamwi had told relatives and friends Purvis had been bothering her "She didn't like me" he said in the confession Officer Rich Martin who was a detective with the homicide division when the murders occurred asked Purvis most of the questions Jan 3 1983 the day police picked Purvis up Martin admitted to Kirsch that there were "inconsistencies" in Purvis' story On the tape Purvis says he brought the murder weapon a kitchen knife from his home The knife used to kill Hamwi was the victim's own Purvis also repeated Martin's exact words in answer to several of the officer's questions "This man if you question him for half an hour will say anything you want him to" Kirsch said Purvis has been diagnosed a schizophrenic and has been in mental hospitals several times He has never held a job Purvis who is on anti-psychotic medication fidgeted in his chair during the hearing turning around often to smile at his family '1 Al PAM SMITH O'HARA I Miami Herald Staff A defense attorney talks with John Purvis at a hearing Friday on a tape-recorded murder confession Purvis made 4: tr lc Fireworks arrest 4th in 4 years 1 1 i oef "Si 0 fixes 1 7 it II! get 1 4 i'' :4 4 A A 4 It i 1 i i 1 1 1 '''I i :7 I :1 Ti'4 3 i 1-- ''Ct 1: tl'a 1 --4 r--- 4'f'' 41 00sHr 44 -t-riz vi isps -1 4 tla z-7 -t- 'ti t1k -tr77 1 i' 7' 4 4 '4 1 1 1 4' -'1'1 t'' 4: 1 '-i 7:: 1:: 4 f-z1: tr: '1 t- ii 414 to i 9 i'- 4: I 1 i '7 l'tittt 1 6'''Nlk -1 4 1 o'' 1 :::4 i 1 1' I 4::4 e- 1 :7 i i A 1 i 1 I ft- i :4 t1 $1--''' 70 -1 4 Ji 4 i 4 4 i- By CATHY SHAW Herald Staff Walter Broward public school officials reviewed next year's budget headaches Friday looked around for sources of blame and alighted upon the county property appraiser and the state Legislature "We're going to have the highest required local tax) rate in the state because we have the lowest property assessments" school finance director Tom Larkin said as he presented a proposed $3994 million operating budget He explained that Broward taxpayers would be forced to make up in 1984-85 for the underassessed value of their property in 1983-84 Although property in the average county is assessed at 955 percent of its market value Property Appraiser William Markham has assessed Broward's at 913 percent Larkin said This year state officials decided that Broward would make up the difference Larkin said he wouldn't know the precise impact on taxes until July 23 Early estimates show it at 18 cents per $1000 of assessed property value "This is all in the hands of Mr Markham" he said "But the taxpayers are going to get ticked off at the School Board" Last year Broward residents paid $741 per $1000 of taxable property value for schools giving the homeowner with a $75000 house and a $25000 homestead exemption a $37050 bill Meanwhile the state Legislature has ruled that counties may no longer use their special tax for capital spending on new equipment unless the equipment is going By RE DAWKINS Herald Stall Writer US Treasury agents and sheriff's deputies arrested a Hallandale man Friday on charges of possessing fireworks big enough to be classified as explosives It was the man's fourth arrest in four years on similar charges Louis David Schnier 60 of 615 NE Eighth St Apt 14 was arrested at a Pembroke Park warehouse by deputies and state Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agents sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal said Schnier was charged with possession of explosives without a license a second-degree felony ATF agents assigned to the Vice President's South Florida Task Force had been investigating Schnier for the past two months "Part of the reason for our investigation is that Mr Schnier is a repeat offender" said ATF spokesman Ron Ohlzen "We wanted to stop damage to property and injury? Agents had tracked Schnier around Broward for two days before they approached him to buy illegal fireworks on Friday Schnier who was driving a 1980 Cadillac laden with the explosives and fireworks led agents to a warehouse located at 3150 Pembroke Rd Pembroke Park about 12:50 pm Police found two small warehouse bays filled with boxes of explosives Included in the cache of fireworks were powerful M-200 and M-80 explosives as well as bottle-rockets firecrackers and smoke bombs said ATF agent Ralph Ostrowski The sheriff's bomb and arson squad was called in to remove the fireworks BSO also confiscated the Cadillac "Our interests in the case came about because of the possible sale of the M-200s" Ostrowski said "The possession sale and manufacture of those devices are illegal under federal laws" M-200s carry an explosti7e charge equal to a quarter of a stick of dynamite ATF agents said Deputies confiscated at least 400 of them Deputies had not completed an inventory of the fireworks but records confiscated at the warehouse indicated the contents were worth more than $33000 Schnier's arrest Friday is the fourth time since 1980 that he has faced charges of selling illegal fireworks The other three arrests were misdemeanor offenses Deerfield Beach Police arrested Schnier on Sept 25 1980 He pleaded guilty to illegally selling fireworks and his sentence was withheld Tom Larkin: Broward may have highest required tax rate in state into new or remodeled buildings That means new trucks will not be purchased for a year and the board will have to purchase computers out of operating funds Larkin said the board has $168 million in operating funds that could be used for teacher salary raises But administrators also submitted a $38-million wish list of new projects that would leave only $13 million available enough for about a 5 percent raise The teachers have asked for a 12 Please turn to TAXES 6BR Suit seeks $3 million in assets from ex-cop CHARLES TRAINOR JR I Miami Herald Staff In South Florida a big umbrella helps Dante Clowers 6 Sherman Nlarshan 8 and Nemiha James 10 pull out theirs one extra-wetday in Fort Lauderdale 'It was a classic money-laundering investigation But this action is different from most forfeiture actions in that it focuses on the profits and investments of the criminal enterprise rather than the property actually used' Elsewhere Soggy cycle In South Florida rain's the rule Cruise ship gets new ports of call By PHILIP WARD Herald Staff Writer State lawyers sued to seize or freeze nearly $3 million in assets Friday including three Broward County homes 20 acres of land near Aspen Colo and various mortgage holdings described as the drug-smuggling profits of a former Fort Lauderdale police officer The forfeiture case filed in Broward Circuit Court is the biggest ever made in the state said Assistant State Attorney General Gary Conover head of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization section The target of the investigation was former Fort Lauderdale police officer Gerald Smith and six corporations five local one foreign that he set up to purchase property and launder profits from his drug-smuggling operation Conover said Smith 37 who resigned from the police force in 1975 was charged in 1981 with heading a drug ring that imported more than 200000 pounds of marijuanana into Broward between 1978 and 1981 earning more than $40 million per year Smith who fled South Florida just before the indictment remains a fugitive and currently is believed to be living in Nassau the Bahamas The state has had a RICO act since 1977 that allows it to confis Gary Conover assistant state attorney general Piquet Cruises will move its SS Rhapsody cruise ship from Miami to Fort Lauderdale at the start of the winter season Ports of call will change too Story Page 4B Soloists introduced at the symphony and maybe into a wind There may be thunder or a flash of light And then the drenching begins We are ending the rainiest month of the year in South Florida when Broward County averages more than nine inches of rain during 30 super heated days It dries slightly in July with an average rainfall of just over six inches in 31 days Over the past four days in a marching band of cloudbursts Fort Lauderdale has seen 223 inches of rain and Hollywood has seen 15 inches Friday was dry in Fort Lauderdale while a half-inch dampened Hollywood The monthly total is slightly short of the average Hollywood has seen 859 inches of rain this June Fort Laudedale has had 809 inches Today's forecast is as expected: partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain as temperatures creep toward 90 The cycle repeats By JONATHAN SACKS Herald Stall Writer Cycles They are elemental in the natural world the rule of things Often they are so subtle or so regular that they go unnoticed: the breath in and out the shift of the breeze At other times they are more overt like day to night or high tide to low When summer comes to Florida there is a daily cycle often unwelcome but ever essential Rain Begin the cycle at dawn with the hot sun pressing hard then ever harder into the moist night-cooled earth In the Everglades and over the ocean the humidity roils and rises gathering in great heavy clouds overhead By afternoon the sky is pregnant with the moisture the air electric A breeze kicks into a gust cate any property either used during continuing criminal activity or bought with money raised through such activity Conover said "It was a classic money-laundering investigation" Conover said "But this action is different from most forfeiture actions in that it focuses on the profits and investments of the criminal enterprise rather than the property actually used" Conover said his office intends to Please turn to SEIZE 6BR 1 Emerson Buckley's recently released programs for the Fort Lauderdale Symphony constitute the first performances in South Florida of several contemporary scores and the first appearances of three principal orchestra players as soloists at regular concerts Story Page 4C OW 1.