Philadelphia ? Former hippie guru Ira Einhorn went on trial Monday on charges he murdered his girlfriend, with a prosecutor accusing the 1970s icon of having a “bizarre philosophy of violence” and a history of mistreating women.

The defense said Einhorn is innocent and fled the country on the eve of trial more than 20 years ago only because he was frightened.

Prosecutor Joel Rosen said he would present evidence that Einhorn, 62, killed Holly Maddux in 1977 in their west Philadelphia apartment, where her body was found two years later in a steamer trunk.

In his opening statement, Rosen read a poem from a personal journal in which Einhorn allegedly described beating and choking another ex-lover. The poem’s closing lines were, “In such violence, there may be freedom.”

“He had his own little bizarre philosophy of violence. It was OK to him,” Rosen said.

Einhorn jumped bail just before his 1981 trial and spent more than 16 years on the lam before he was captured in France. Defense attorney William T. Cannon asked jurors not to assume Einhorn was guilty just because he fled.

“Ira Einhorn in January 1981 was plain scared,” he said. “He was scared about the prospect of injustice, the kind of injustice that takes place when the prosecutor’s office is not playing with a fair deck.”

Einhorn will testify that he never physically assaulted Maddux, Cannon added.

Einhorn appeared attentive as the trial opened, alternately taking notes and closely watching jurors. Maddux’s three sisters and brother were in the gallery.

One sister, Buffy Hall, testified that the last time she saw Maddux alive, she had seemed excited and happier than she had been in years. She said her sister had told her that she was about to leave Einhorn.

Mary Maddux, from left, Elizabeth Buffy Hall and Meg Wakeman, sisters of Holly Maddux, leave the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia after the start of Ira Einhorn's murder trial. Einhorn, a former hippie guru, is on trial for the 1977 slaying of Holly Maddux.

Suzanne Haney, an acquaintance of the couple, recalled Einhorn as “demeaning” to his girlfriend. Susan M. Gale, who said she attended ballet classes with Maddux, testified that she once saw her with “a really, really bad black eye” and other times with bruises on her throat and body.

Outside court, Einhorn’s younger brother, Stephen, disputed the claims of violence, calling his brother “the most gentle person in the world” who protected him from bullies during their boyhood.

As for the relationship with Maddux, Stephen Einhorn said: “He loved her. He wanted to marry her.”

Einhorn’s lawyers may call celebrities such as Ellen Burstyn and Peter Gabriel as character witnesses. His New Age philosophy had gained him a following among the rich and influential in the 1970s.

Maddux’s mummified remains were found two years after she disappeared when neighbors complained about an odor coming from Einhorn’s apartment. Einhorn had told police that Maddux went to the store and never returned.

Einhorn was arrested, but released on bail after several prominent Philadelphians vouched for him. After he disappeared on the eve of trial, he was convicted in absentia in 1993. He was arrested in 1997 living with his wife in a converted windmill in southern France.

He was returned to the United States in July 2001 only after prosecutors agreed to a French request not to seek the death penalty and the state Legislature passed a law allowing the original conviction to be vacated. France does not extradite foreign nationals convicted in absentia.