Suspect in Serial Killings Hangs Tough on His Extradition : Justice: Delaying tactics in Alabama may mean that Prince will not be brought to trial for more than a year.

By MICHAEL GRANBERRY

May 27, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The attorneys involved in both the prosecution and defense of the man accused of killing five women in Clairemont and University City say he continues to fight extradition and may not be brought to trial for more than a year.

Cleophus Prince Jr., 23, arrested in Birmingham, Ala., in early March as the suspect in the serial slayings, remains in jail in his hometown, even though the governors of California and Alabama have signed papers requesting his extradition.

Dan Lamborn, the deputy district attorney assigned to prosecute Prince, said last week that briefs related to Prince’s extradition must be filed with an Alabama appeals court by Tuesday, after which “the court can lift the stay or ask for oral arguments.”

Both Lamborn and Loren Mandel, the alternate public defender assigned to defend Prince once he returns to San Diego, say extradition is inevitable.

“It’s only a matter of when,” Lamborn said.

“My opinion is, we’ll probably see him in San Diego by June or July,” Mandel said.

Roger Appell, a Birmingham defense attorney, is representing Prince in the extradition proceedings in Alabama. Mandel said Appell’s strategy, with which he agrees, is to delay as long as possible, since prosecutors may ask for the death penalty.

“My position is, if the prosecution is interested in filing special circumstances, and talking about the death penalty, I’m not going to make it any easier for them,” Mandel said. “So he’s in Alabama, near his family.

“He’s seeing them regularly, something he can’t do once he’s here. He knows he’ll be (in San Diego) for a while. So he might as well take advantage of seeing his people. I don’t care how innocent he is. It’s going to take a long time to resolve this.”

Mandel, who got involved with the case two months ago, said: “I’ve yet to see any of the material from the district attorney. The last time we were in court here on a discovery motion, Lamborn said there was as much as 40,000 pages yet to be indexed or photocopied.

“If it takes three to four months to photocopy and index the material, imagine how long it’s going to take me to read and digest all of that, and we’ve already lost four months of time. All I really know about the case is what I read in the newspapers.”

Mandel said he has been to Alabama to meet Prince, whom he described as “a very affable and pleasant person to talk to . . . very agreeable. He’s the last kind of person you’d expect to hurt anybody.”

Prosecutor Lamborn described his side of the case by saying, “Clearly, the evidence is overwhelming that that’s the guy we want.”

Prince is accused of stabbing to death three women in Clairemont and a mother and daughter in University City.

Tiffany Paige Schultz, a 20-year-old San Diego State University student, was found slain in her apartment on Cowley Way on Jan. 12, 1990.

Janene Marie Weinhold, a 21-year-old UC San Diego student, was found slain the following Feb. 16 in her apartment on Clairemont Drive, just a few doors down from where Prince lived, in the Buena Vista Gardens complex.

Holly Suzanne Tarr, an 18-year-old high school senior from Okemos, Mich., who was visiting San Diego during spring break, was found slain in her brother’s Buena Vista Gardens apartment April 3, 1990.

Pamela Gail Clark, 42, and her 18-year-old daughter, Amber, were found slain in their home on Honors Drive in University City on Sept. 13.

Prince was arrested outside the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road on an outstanding traffic warrant Feb. 4 while sitting in his car in the club parking lot. He told homicide detectives he was waiting for a female friend.

The arrest came one day after Prince allegedly tried to burglarize the home of a woman in Scripps Ranch. The woman, as well as Pamela Gail Clark, belonged to the fitness club, investigators said.

Prince was later booked on the traffic warrant--he previously had been cited for speeding and driving with a suspended license--and the attempted-burglary charge was added after two people identified him from a photo lineup, officials say.

After his arrest, the district attorney’s office requested in writing that Prince be held on $50,000 bail, but he was released before the necessary paperwork reached court. He was given a Feb. 7 arraignment date for the traffic warrant but failed to appear, and a $100,000 bench warrant was issued for his arrest, court records show.

County marshals then began a search for Prince, a construction worker who, before being discharged from the service, was stationed at Miramar Naval Air Station.

Prince did appear at a Feb. 15 hearing on the attempted-burglary warrant. Municipal Judge Nicholas Kasimatis set a March 15 disposition hearing and released Prince without bail because he had shown up in court.

Police took blood and saliva samples from Prince while he was in jail. Prince returned to Alabama in late February. San Diego police obtained DNA results March 1 that they now say link him to the Weinhold murder.

He was arrested two days later in Birmingham, where he had recently served jail time on a charge of petty theft.

Prince refused to waive extradition at his first hearing, but after the governors of both states requested it in April, extradition was granted. The Alabama Court of Appeals then granted a stay of extradition and has since asked for briefs on why the stay should be lifted.

The deadline for the briefs is Tuesday, but it could be weeks, attorneys say, before the court stay is reversed.