Criminal Justice
Legal Group Gets Hsu Suicide Note
Posted Sep 13, 2007, 11:40 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A legal group was among the recipients of a suicide note from Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu that was Fed Exed before he disappeared and failed to show up for a court hearing last week.
The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports that Hsu sent the one-page note to the Innocence Project, as well as to several acquaintances and charitable organizations. Hsu said he was upset by publicity about his fundraising and his no-contest plea to a 1991 fraud charge.
Hsu had once before disappeared, before sentencing in the fraud case.
The Innocence Project, which uses DNA to free inmates it deems to be wrongly convicted, had received donations from Hsu. Spokesman Eric Ferrero told the Associated Press the group tried to reach Hsu’s attorney and faxed the letter to the California attorney general’s office.
"We were all concerned for his safety,” Ferrero said.
Hsu was arrested in a Colorado hospital. He was taken there from an Amtrak train after employees responded to worried passengers and pried open his locked door. Witnesses told the Wall Street Journal prescription pills were on the floor and Hsu appeared disoriented.
Hsu will appear before a Mesa County judge this afternoon to hear the charges against him.