Lost Lover

The big smiles around the defense table in the Providence courtroom all but told the story. Judge Corinne Grande had just deflated one of the prosecution's main hopes in the retrial of Claus von Bulow for allegedly trying to kill his now comatose wife Martha ("Sunny") von Bulow in 1979 and again in 1980. The judge had ruled that the state could not offer the jury the 1982 testimony by ex-Soap Opera Actress Alexandra Isles, who helped convict her former lover in his first trial. Isles had testified that she had threatened to leave Von Bulow unless he divorced his wife, an action that would have cut him off from a legacy of more than $14 million. Judge Grande held that to present such evidence in Isles' absence would deprive the Danish- born defendant of his "profound constitutional right" to confront the witness.

As Isles dominated the first Von Bulow trial by her testimony, last week she dominated the second by her absence. The socialite left the country last win ter, purportedly to visit her mother in Ireland, and has not been seen since. Judge Grande ruled that the Rhode Island prosecutors failed to mount the sufficiently "diligent" search required before testimony from an absent witness can be used. Rhode Island State Police Detective John F. Reise told the court that he had attempted to locate Isles through New York magazine Theater Critic John Simon, with whom she is said to maintain a close relationship. Simon, Reise testified, reported that Isles "had no intention of returning to testify and that she was out of the country and she would not telephone." Reise said Simon told him that Isles had been intimidated by the "threatening or hate-type mail" she had received from Von Bulow after her appearance in the first trial.

On Friday, the judge gave the state three more days to locate Isles, and told the defense to be ready with its side of the case. The missing mistress also prompted Von Bulow's attorneys to offer their fourth request for a mistrial, based on the prosecution's opening statement that previewed Isles' expected testimony.