$5 million bail for fugitive Hsu

Ellen Miller, Special to the Rocky

Published September 14, 2007 at midnight

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GRAND JUNCTION - Fugitive investor and Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, whose flight from a 1992 grand theft conviction and subsequent campaign donations roiled the presidential race, was ordered held on a record $5 million cash-only bail by a Mesa County judge at a hearing Thursday.

Hsu, 56, whose attorney said Hsu would waive extradition to California where he jumped a $2 million bail last week, is being held in administrative segregation in the Mesa County jail, away from other prisoners.

"Two million wasn't enough," said Mesa County Court Judge Bruce Raaum in setting the $5 million cash-only bail, a figure five times higher than previous high- dollar bails in Mesa County set in several murder cases.

Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger disclosed in court that Hsu had mailed a letter to a New York legal organization, the Innocence Project, indicating "he was thinking of harming himself."

A person who saw the letter told The Associated Press on Thursday that the note explicitly stated that Hsu "intended to commit suicide." The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to reveal the exact phrasing, but said the letter was not rambling in nature.

In arguing for higher bail, Hautzinger mentioned the letter Hsu sent to the Innocence Project and others, saying it showed Hsu was "despondent and may hurt himself."

Officials emphasized, however, that Hsu was not under suicide watch.

Hsu fled from San Mateo County, Calif., on Sept. 5, the day he was due in court for a hearing to reduce his $2 million bail and to turn in his passport. The next day, he was found ill aboard an Amtrak train in Grand Junction and spent six days in St. Mary's Hospital. Officials have not disclosed details of his illness.

Hsu's attorney, Eric Elliff of Morrison & Foerster in Denver, said his client remains ill.

Elliff wouldn't comment on Hsu's letter or why he was heading to Denver aboard Amtrak.

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