William Lamb

Barring a last-minute postponement, a district justice will hear testimony today detailing how Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz was shot dead and why millionaire John E. du Pont has been charged with the Jan. 26 slaying. The preliminary hearing will be the first time du Pont has appeared in court since he was whisked off to Delaware County Prison following his Jan. 28 arrest on murder charges. Still unresolved yesterday was a defense request asking that the prosecution turn over all material it has that is related to the case, including any weapons found in Schultz's Toyota.

For the last six months, his home has been a cell barely big enough to hold a bunk, a stainless-steel toilet and a sink. Its one window faces a recreation yard he's not allowed to use. He is forbidden to watch television, listen to the radio or read newspapers and magazines. His meals are mostly tea and crackers. He leaves his cell only for a closet-sized prison meeting room, where he meets with lawyers and others, and for court appearances. After nearly 57 years of luxury - of roaming an 800-acre estate, jetting the world at will, chatting up heads of state and world-class athletes - John E. du Pont is confined to "a stark, spartan existence," one of his lawyers said.

Byron Keith Cooper has never met John Eleuthere du Pont. That hasn't stopped the career criminal from Oklahoma from becoming the multi-millionaire's latest ally in his fight to avoid a life in prison. In 1989, Cooper murdered an 86-year-old man during a burglary in Oklahoma. He exhibited such bizarre behavior during early court proceedings that he was sent to a psychiatric institution for more than three months. Still, he was convicted and sentenced to death. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling that Oklahoma's standard for determining a defendant's competency placed too heavy a burden on the defense.

Sen. Robert J. Dole, the presidential hopeful, was on the rubber-chicken circuit, working a cocktail party of Chester County Republican leaders. His guide, who smiled broadly in a pin-striped suit that perfectly matched the senator's, was the county GOP chairman, William Holman Lamb. They wheeled through the hall, pumping hands and spewing pleasantries, as Lamb ticked off the names and titles of the local VIPs who had assembled to greet Dole before the party's $100-a-plate spring benefit dinner in Downingtown.

The state Supreme Court has barred a Montgomery County judge from hearing the custody dispute involving a mother who fled the country with her two children and the millionaire father who searched the world to bring them home. The high court issued the order last week in response to a petition filed on behalf of the mother, Ellen Dever, by her attorneys, Richard A. Sprague and William H. Lamb. The justices, who did not state a reason for removing Judge Rhonda Lee Daniele, also barred any other Montgomery County judges from the case.

William Arthur Lamb, 85, of Malvern, a retired civil engineer for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, died Monday, Oct. 4, of dementia at home. After his appointment in 1967 as assistant engineer for the Philadelphia district of the Pennsylvania Highway Department, now PennDot, he oversaw the design, construction, and improvements of major roadways in the city and its suburbs. His projects included construction of I-95 exit and entrance ramps through Philadelphia and the Vine Street Expressway.

A partner of real estate mogul Willard Rouse is seeking to have William Lamb, the powerful Chester County lawyer and solicitor for Uwchlan Township, stripped of his contract with a local bank on the ground of conflict of interest. James H. Simon, partners with Rouse on a multimillion-dollar development on Route 100 in Uwchlan Township called Stoneridge, has asked a Common Pleas Court judge to require Lamb to stop representing Provident National Bank because, as Uwchlan solicitor, Lamb also advises the township on Stoneridge.

Two of John E. du Pont's top lawyers pulled out of the murder case yesterday, after the trial judge issued an order saying they did not need her permission to withdraw. The departure of Richard Sprague and William Lamb from the high-profile case was confirmed by their offices yesterday and came just days before a critical court session. Du Pont faces a hearing on Friday to determine whether he is competent to stand trial in the Jan. 26 shooting death of Olympic gold-medal wrestler David Schultz.

Despite her promise to stick around, Jefferson Bank's founder, Betsy Z. Cohen, has cashed in all of her stock and quit the board of the New Jersey company that bought her Philadelphia-based bank last year. Cohen sold her $23 million holding in Hudson United Bancorp on July 17, according to Securities and Exchange Commission records. William Lamb, a cofounder of Jefferson Bank, sold his $13 million stake in Hudson the same day. Asked about the stock sales yesterday, bank chairman Kenneth Neilson said the two had quit the Hudson board the day they sold the stock.

For the last 37 years, West Chester lawyer William H. Lamb has specialized in resisting a law specialty - a decision that makes him an ideal candidate for the state's highest court, supporters say. Lamb's nomination by outgoing Gov. Schweiker Wednesday to fill a vacancy on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court caps a career that includes two terms as Chester County's district attorney, a nine-year tenure as local Republican Party chairman, and partnership...