Partington

BACKGROUND

This case arises from the notorious Palmyra trials- and the publicity surrounding them. Palmyra is an uninhabited island located in the Pacific Ocean. During the summer of 1974, Stephanie Stearns and Buck Walker sailed to the island in an old sailboat. Once there, the couple discovered that the condition of their boat and the lack of adequate supplies prevented their return. Shortly after their arrival, Muff and Mae Graham arrived on a second sailboat. By the end of October that same year, the Grahams had disappeared, and Stearns and Walker had returned to Hawaii sailing the boat that once belonged to the Grahams. In 1981, the bones of Muff Graham were found washed up on Palmyra, and Stearns and Walker were indicted for her murder.

Earle Partington was appointed to represent Walker, while Steams hired Vincent Bugliosi to represent her in a separate trial. Partington is a well-known criminal defense lawyer, although his “passive” handling of a controversial murder case once caused the Hawaii Supreme Court to reverse his client’s conviction sua sponte. Partington v. Bugliosi, 825 F.Supp. 906, 910 (D.Hawaii 1993) (describing the facts surrounding the Hawaii Supreme Court…