Murder Trial of Former Hughes Aide Postponed

The murder trial of former Howard Hughes aide John Herbert Meier has been postponed for at least two weeks while the county public defender’s office determines whether he qualifies for a free lawyer.

Deputy Public Defender Roger Stanton said Monday that if Meier is deemed indigent, his office will then seek to bow out of the case and ask a judge to use public funds to pay for a private attorney to represent him. Stanton said his office does not have a lawyer available to try what is expected to be a lengthy case involving the decade-old slaying of a Meier business associate, Alfred Wayne Netter, in Beverly Hills.

Law enforcement sources say they believe Meier is wealthy but has hidden his assets to protect them from seizure by a Hughes entity, the Summa Corp., which won an $8-million judgment against him in a civil suit alleging fraud over mining claims.

Meier was charged in 1981 with Netter’s murder, but fought extradition from his home in Canada for 2 1/2 years. Last month, on the eve of his scheduled trial, he sought to dismiss his privately retained lawyer, claiming the lawyer was unprepared.

Meier is being held in County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.