European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Paga the stars and stripes Friday. April 15.1988 convicted Navy surgeon ordered freed from prison by Norm an Hiack a military Uritch Washington or. Donal m. Bil Lig the Nav. Hear surgeon convicted of involuntary manslaughter and homicide in the deaths of three of his patients has been ordered freed from prison by a Mil itary appeals court that and it is nol con Vinced he is guilty. The . Navy Marine corps court of military review in a 20-Pap,e Opin Ion Calcii wednesday and released thursday said in appeared the prosecutors Al Billig s i9s6 court martial lost sight of the fact that coronary artery bypass surgery is an inherently risky  we shall set aside All findings of guilty based in this factual insufficiency of the evidence inc court said. The Navy said in would comply with the court s ruling by releasing Bullig from fort la Vanworth Kan. Tile Navy said it has not decided whether to Appeal. Under military Law. The service has 3d Days to file a formal motion with inc appeals court. Billi 57, was convicted by a court martial i hot lasted eight weeks and was sentenced to four years in prison he also was dismissed from the service and or dered to forfeit All future pay and allow ances he could have been sentenced lol i years nearly sightless in one Eye. Billig was found guilty fcb 21. I j86, of causing the deaths of patients through grass sur rival errors during operations he per formed in 1983 and 1984. He was found guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter one count of negligent homicide and 18 counts of dereliction of duty. Billig had been chief heart surgeon at the Navy s flagship both Coda naval hos Pital in Maryland. Prosecutors maintained during the court martial that Billig concealed from the Navy his near blindness and his record of being tired or asked to Donal Billig and wife Bonnie after his conviction by � Cost Narklin 1986. Leave a series of civilian jobs because of questions about his surgical ability. He was the first Navy doctor to be convicted of manslaughter and Only the second Ever to be charged. The court martial heard Complex Testi Mony on the delicate procedures of open heart surgery with the prosecution arguing Billig had killed five patients through Clumsy and dim sighted incompetence. The jury consisted of eight captains and a rear Admiral. The appeals court in its opinion said it was troubled by Billig s conviction because his court martial had involved criminal charges As opposed to civil claims for damages based on negligence. The court quoted from a new Jersey supreme court ruling that stated the question is not whether a defendant should absorb inc Dollar Lou of his Vic Tim but whether his conduct justifies jumping him a criminal and lending him to stale  in Billig s Case the military court said it appeared the prosecutors had ignored not Only the riskiness of coronary artery bypass surgery but also that those patients who agree to this elective surgery Are quite ill in the first  we Are not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the deaths thai formed the basis of the Appellant s conviction were due to any negligence aim pie or otherwise on his  Billig s Case generated widespread publicity congressional reviews of Mili tary health care and several Large Mone tary settlements Between the governor enl and relatives of patients. The testimony Al limn proved sensational with the projection describing Billig As an egocentric Man who continued performing Complex heart opera Tion despite numerous warnings that he was killing patients. Confab nation from Oil refinery leaks May Sef California record paper says los Angeles Impi up to 252 million Gallons of fuel have leaked into the ground under the Chevron Oil refinery in f l Segundo in what May be the largest ground water contamination in c Alifornia history in was reported thurs Day. The Lou Angeles times said the Esti mated contamination was based on new studies at the 77-year-old refinery where authorities in i95 Dino cml the leaks from old tanks pipes and Ponds. Chevron Aid a Slick up to 12 feet thick and containing perhaps 6 million barrels of fuel is floating on ground water beneath most of the 1,000-acre refinery the West coast s largest. The fuel also underlies the Noil part  Pono Community in Manhattan Beach and on Tondu trial strip immediately North of the refinery in Al Segundo the Oil company said. State and local officials said that de spite the contamination there is no immediate in real of contamination of drink n e. Water or of an explosion caused by leaking fuel Vapours. The extent of the contamination was nol Clear until Chevron revealed the re sult of its stale ordered study last month the times said. Chevron officials estimate inc cleanup could take 20 years and Cost Al least s86 million far More than the company says in expects to make by Selling the gasoline diesel Jet fuel and various kinds of partially refined Petroleum re covered from the ground water los Angeles regional water Quality control Board officials have sent a preliminary cleanup order to Chevron the newspaper said. The Board is expected to make the order final at a hearing Panl 25. Plane lands on another pilots unhurt Athens. A. A at first. Bob Jacob sitting in the cock Tail of his plane was t even aware hat a Small aircraft had landed on top of him. Then he said he realized his plane Wai handling strangely. Jacob was taxiing his single engine Cessna 172 on a runway Siben Eppl Airport wednesday eve Ning when a Cessna 170 landed on top of his plane straddling it if in had landed 6 feet Fanner to the left the prop would have punctured his plane and struck him in the head he said. I had this thought today that 1 really should t go out Jacob said after the Accident. Bold Jacob and the older Pilot. Waller Kussman escaped injury although damage to the aircraft appeared to be extensive. Frank Dively. Manager of the Smalt Airport said Kussman. Who was unaware the Airport lower was closed was attempt Iii to talk to someone in the Tower when the Accident occurred. The two pilots were using different radio frequencies so they were unaware of each other s presence he said. Meese mum on renewed building lease Washington a a real estate Developer whose family pays for the salary of attorney general Edwin memes wife Ursula was granted 150 million lease renewal on a building the govern ment said risked the health and safety of Justice department workers. The attorney general in Atlanta thursday to attend a drug conference was sled by a reporter about the matter but declined to comment. Thirteen Days alter obtaining the new lease the Developer and his partners sold the building for 122.6 million nun than they had paid for it iwo Yean earlier a 60 percent profit according to District of Columbia land records the Developer Howard s. Bender. Was the principal owner of inc building in Laic 1985 when the Bender foundation his family s Las exempt philanthropy donated si20.000 to the multiple sclerosis society to hire Ursula Meese at $40,000 a year for three years the society s lawyer said. The lease a renewal at More than three time the previous rent was signed even though the landlord had not cleaned up an air system Environ Jeolal inspectors said was a health Hazard that could explain above average sickness there according to government documents. Billionaire couple pleads not guilty to tax evasion new yuk1c a billionaire Developer Harry ill Mulcy and his wife Leona. The if styled hotel Queen were arraigned thursday on tax evasion charges in state court where they loudly proclaimed their innocence. The Helmsley in ringing voices re plied not guilty when asked to they pleaded to charges involving the disguising of millions of dollars in Reno vation easts for their estate As business Apin of also pleading innocent were Frank Furco. Mrs. Helmsley i former top aide ind Joseph Licari. The couple s former expenses. All Turci. Josep financial manager. Acting state supreme Conn Justice canal Berkman released them on their own recognizance. A june i court Dale was set. He Milcy so and i 68-year-old wife Are one of the world s wealthiest couples. Their holding including the Empire stale building and the hcs Mulcy Palace hotel Are Worth an ciliated si.4 Bil lion. In the courtroom the Helms lays Sal quietly in the front Row As drug dealers and thieves were arraigned. The Helen Sleys Are accused of disguising millions of dollars in renovation costs on their Greenwich Conn Man Sion As business  Law enforce ment source earlier told the associated press. The renovation Bills on the vast estate allegedly were written off As lax deductions the expected charges were income lax evasion and falsifying business re cords the source Laid. U s attorney Rudolph Giuliani and state a Tunney general Robert a Fanu mounted a joint investigation into a Helms lays taxes is months ago