DATE: Saturday, August 30, 1997             TAG: 9708300405

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   93 lines

JUDGE IN N.Y. DISALLOWS REWARD CLAIM IN SALVI CASE CONVICTION NEEDED FOR PAYOFF, COURT TELLS PLAINTIFFS.

Neither a Norfolk security company, nor two of its former guards, should collect a $100,000 reward offered for the arrest and conviction of abortion clinic gunman John C. Salvi III, a New York judge has ruled.

The reason: Salvi killed himself while his convictions for killing two people in Massachusetts were being appealed, so the original guilty verdicts were overturned.

Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Herman Cahn said in a ruling issued Thursday that Planned Parenthood Inc., which offered the money, had stipulated that the ``reward would only be paid upon a final conviction.''

Ralph Drabkin, the attorney representing security guards Lisa Williams and Charles Holmes Jr. and their former employers, Security Consultants Inc. of Norfolk, said he would appeal.

``Salvi's death did not challenge his guilt,'' Drabkin told the New York Daily News.

Neither of the guards now works for the company and it's not clear if they still live in the Hampton Roads area. A man answering the security company's phone on Friday said the company would have no comment on the ruling.

Roger Evans, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, said neither of the guards had played a significant role in Salvi's capture.

``All they did was call the police,'' Evans told the Boston Globe. ``The reward is not available to police or to law enforcement generally. It's not available to security guards who are doing what they are supposed to be doing.''

Evans said Planned Parenthood's reward program is intended for private citizens whose tips result in arrests and convictions for violent acts aimed at women's health clinics.

Salvi was captured in Norfolk on Dec. 31, 1994, just moments after he fired 23 gunshots into the building housing the Hillcrest Clinic. At the time, he was the subject of a nationwide manhunt.

A day earlier, he walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, Mass., outside Boston, pulled out a .22-caliber rifle and opened fire. Shannon Lowney, 25, was killed and three other people in the waiting room were wounded.

Salvi then drove about two miles to the Preterm Health Services clinic and opened fire again, killing Lee Ann Nichols, 38, and injuring two others.

After identifying Salvi as the suspect in the shootings, police tried to track him down at his apartment in the coastal town of Hampton Beach, N.H. But they apparently missed him by just hours. He had left earlier, heading south.

He drove about 12 hours, ending up in Norfolk.

Just before noon on New Year's Eve, security guards Williams and Holmes were on duty in the lobby of the Bel Aire Building, housing Hillcrest, in the 1600 block of E. Little Creek Road.

Williams first noticed Salvi as he walked up to the glass lobby doors at the rear of the building. He stepped inside and asked if there was a Burger King nearby. She gave him directions and said the man walked back to his truck.

Moments later, however, Williams noticed Salvi walking back toward the lobby from his truck. Only now he was carrying a black duffel bag.

Standing in front of the double doors, he took a rifle from the bag, she said, and opened fire. Shell casings fell on the sidewalk and the pavement. The doors shattered.

Williams and Holmes, who had been at the front of the lobby, sought cover as some of the 23 bullets he fired whizzed through, exiting near floor level through glass doors and windows at the front of the building.

When the shooting stopped, Salvi ran back to his truck and sped off.

Williams ran upstairs to alert people in the clinic where 14 staff members were on duty, although only one of them heard the shots. She stayed there as the office was sealed and employees and an undisclosed number of patients and their guests were told they could not leave. Police were called.

At the same time, Holmes ran into the rear parking lot with his gun drawn, but fired no shots at Salvi's truck as it sped away.

A witness, Mark Brindel, then 16, later described seeing Salvi ``spraying the doorway'' and then fleeing.

Moments later, ``I saw this security guard come out doing the commando stuff,'' crouching low with his weapon drawn.

Norfolk Fire Department arson investigator Ken Harlan, who was at the building on an investigation, also heard the gunshots. He looked around a corner in time to see Salvi squeeze off his final shots and then drive away.

Harlan ran to his own vehicle and followed Salvi's pickup. He radioed police dispatchers and requested assistance. Moments later, the pickup was stopped and surrounded by police in the 1300 block of Little Creek Road, just short of Military Highway.

Salvi was wrestled to the ground and arrested.

Salvi killed himself in his cell on Nov. 29, 1996.

Guards found Salvi, 24, under his bed at the state's maximum-security prison in Walpole, Mass., with a plastic trash bag from a wastebasket tied around his head. He was alone in his cell and left no note.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara, vacated the conviction based on a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that if a defendant dies during an appeal, charges can be dismissed. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

John C. Salvi III had appealed his convictions before dying.

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