A Matter of Judgment: The Shocking 'Catch Me Killer' Case.

Joseph A. Varon Lifetime Books, Inc., 2131 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, FL 33020. 372 pp., $18.95.

Reviewed by Biz Van Gelder

Early one sweltering August morning in 1968, a police officer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, answered a 911 call from a distraught man who said he had just killed three people. The man begged to be caught before he killed again, and hung up. Evidently he was not too distraught to be obliging, though, because several moments later he called again to say that the bodies could be found near the local airport.

As the police tried to figure out if the call was a hoax, another call from the local airport informed them that a grievously wounded woman had been found in an abandoned car on the airport grounds. She had been shot five times in the head but was still alive.

Shortly thereafter, in nearby Hollywood, the body of a 12-year-old girl was found in an undeveloped area of an industrial park. She too had five bullet holes in her head.

There was no physical evidence--shell casings, fingerprints, or the like--at either scene, and the woman Noms comatose. Fearing that the killer's statement that he had already killed three people was true, and that he would make good on his threat to strike again, the police decided to go public.

The police sent a tape of the phone call to the print media, radio, and television, who played it repeatedly to an increasingly anxious audience. Not surprisingly, the public demanded that the police capture the "catch me killer." The police reacted and formed search parties to find the third victim. The media reacted, publishing extra editions of the Fort Lauerdale News. The police even played the tapes at schools in an effort to make a voice identification of the suspect. With increasing hysteria in the community and no clues to the killer, the police became more pressed to make an arrest.

Eventually the finger was pointed at Robert Erler, a young officer on the Hollywood force, who, ironically, was the first person at the scene where the girl's body was recovered. Erler was a former Green Beret whose intensity already had alienated several colleagues.

Circumstances were conspiring against Erler. Although police could get no identification from the wounded woman, when they learned that the girl was her daughter, they viewed Erler's early appearance at the scene with suspicion. A questionable voice identification by his fellow officers Noms enough to obtain the warrant. It was later determined that he didn't know he was a suspect, but he had tendered his resignation and was 011 his way to Phoenix to visit his family when the local police came after him. The police called in the FBI, and a national manhunt was initiated.

Erler, the rookie cop, became the armed and dangerous former Green Beret who was trained to kill. When he heard the press reports in Phoenix, he hid, which served only to pour gasoline on the circumstantial fire smoldering back home in Florida.

Concerned that Erler was being railroaded, his friends contacted Joseph Varon, a well-known local South Florida defense attorney, who took the case. Varon, now retired, chronicled his representation of Erler in A Matter of Judgement: The Shocking 'Catch Me Killer' Case.

The book describes the murder, manhunt, trial, and post-trial tribulations of Robert Erler. The events are compelling enough, but what really energizes the story is the view of the judicial system from the defense attorney's perspective. Varon must deal with apportunistic prosecutors, inept police investigators, and corrupt trial judges, in addition to the usual legal issues of lack of identification, suppression of key information, a failure to disclose crucial exculpatory evidence. Surviving alone in the Everglades would be a picnic compared to defending a police officer in Fort Lauderdale.

It wasn't easy for Erler after his conviction, either. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he became a marked man. It was a close call between whom he teared more, the guards or the prisoners. As Erler sweated it out in prison, Varon pursued every legal means to free his client, to no avail. Erler was in fact his own worst enemy: Prison escapes and religious conversions damaged his case more than the trial record. In the end, for reasons that provide a stunning conclusion to the story, Erler asked Varon to cease his efforts.

Effective trial attorneys all have a common attribute: They are convincing storytellers. The editor's note states that Varon had lost only 25 of the 500 first-degree murder cases he tried, so he was obviously effective. While the Erler case was not one of his success stories, his book is definitely a winner.

Throughout the saga, Varon never comes across as egotistical. Instead, he honestly portrays the typical activities of a dedicated criminal defense attorney, including sending a bottle of Christmas cheer to the court clerks and overtipping the proprietor of the courthouse coffee stand after receiving inside information about the government's case. Varon has all the trappings of a fictional protagonist. From the dissolution of his marriage to the discussion of his office, it is clear that the law is Varon's life. He even has a saintly Della Street secretary and a Baby-Ruth-munching investigator.

In the end, Varon asks the question, "When do you stop representing your client?" For some, it is when the money runs out; for others, it is after the first appeal. For lawyers like Varon, it is a matter of judgment. Fortunately for us, Varon's judgment in clients and stories that merit telling is sound, and the system and crime literature are all the better for it.