Former soldier freed on bond in 1961 murder of Columbia cabbie

A former Fort Jackson soldier who was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for the 1961 robbery-murder of a Columbia taxi driver was released on $30,000 bond Monday.

Monday’s hearing was the latest twist in one of South Carolina’s longest-running criminal legal sagas, a case that involves a solider going AWOL, a pawn shop gun and a high-profile murder that was unsolved for 40 years until a sheriff’s department cold case unit arrested Edward Freiburger in 2001.

Although a Richland County jury convicted Freiburger in 2002 of taxi driver John Orner’s then 41-year-old murder, the S.C. Court of Appeals last year overturned a guilty verdict that had resulted in a life sentence for the now-73-year-old.

In recent months, the S.C. Supreme Court has refused to take up Freiburger’s case on appeal, in effect upholding the Court of Appeals decision to toss out his case. In recent weeks, the S.C. Probation, Parole and Pardon Services Board granted Freiburger a parole based the 14 years he had served in prison.

State Judge DeAndrea Benjamin said Monday that Freiburger will have to show up for future court appearances.

Freiburger’s lawyer, John Blume of Cornell Law School, a nationally-known wrongful conviction expert, assured the judge that his client will keep his promise to appear in court.

Assistant 5th Circuit solicitor Luck Campbell offered no serious objection to Freiburger’s going free pending a decision by her office as to whether it will put Freiburger on trial again.

Orner, who had a cab stand near Fort Jackson, was found dead in his cab on Feb. 28, 1961, on a road in Lower Richland. His body had been there several days.

At the time, Freiburger was an 18-year-old recruit at Fort Jackson. The day before Orner disappeared, evidence showed Freiburger had bought a .32 caliber pistol and bullets for it at a Columbia pawn shop. Freiburger than went AWOL and was picked up by police as he was hitchhiking in Tennessee. Tennessee police seized the gun and forwarded it to the Richland County sheriff’s department.

Freiburger was arrested in 2001. At his trial, in 2002, a Missouri firearms expert testified that bullet fragments in Ormer’s skull matched with bullets fired from his pistol, which had been kept by sheriff’s investigators.

However, the jury was not told that investigators had another suspect linked to the same kind of bullets. Freiburger’s lawyer, John Delgado of Columbia, had failed to introduce key evidence, the Court of Appeals ruled, that might have caused the jury to reach a different conclusion.

In asking Benjamin to release Freiburger on bond, Blume told her at his age, he posed no danger to the community and was not a flight risk. His prison record was trouble-free, the attorney said..

From 1961 until he was arrested in 2001, Freiburger lived a quiet life in Indiana, Blume said. He raised three children – two of whom grew up to be police officers.

Since Freiburger was paroled, and also had the Supreme Court uphold the overturning of his conviction, Blume said, “He no longer has a conviction to be paroled from.”

“We are back in a pre-trial status,” Blume said. “He is presumed innocent of the charges. What happens next remains to be seen.”

Freiburger will be living with his daughter, Lorrie Freiburger, a police officer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, while out on bond, Blume said.

However, the solicitor’s office still has the option of putting Freiburger on trial for murder again.

“We will make a decision once we have had an opportunity to thoroughly review the entire matter both substantively and procedurally,” 5th Circuit Solicitor Dan Johnson said later Monday.

Blume said there is no point to putting Freiburger on trial again. “Even if you believe Mr. Freiburger did this, which I don’t, the parole board has determined he has served enough time and that he should be paroled because of his age and sterling record,” Blume said.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 8:47 AM with the headline "Former soldier freed on bond in 1961 murder of Columbia cabbie."