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Speaking before a courtroom packed with reporters and camera crews, Chad Hummel, a lawyer for Mr. Polanski, called his treatment by the California courts and prosecutors “a really remarkable, astonishing record of misconduct.” *** Prosecutors, of course, saw it differently. “Do we want to say to him and to every defendant that flight is a remedy?” said Phyllis Asayama, a lawyer with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Ms. Asayama insisted that a 100-year-old doctrine of fugitive disentitlement, under which those who flee are stripped of rights to challenge the law, would have no meaning if Mr. Polanski were...

Polanski's arrest has caused his victim health problems and job worries, and she just wants to be left alone, her attorney wrote in a court filing. Attorney Lawrence Silver urged a California appeals court to dismiss the criminal case against the "Chinatown" director. The filing with the Second District Court of Appeal on Friday said Samantha Geimer and Silver have received nearly 500 media calls seeking comment since Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on Sept. 26. Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, and her family have to contend with such pressure whenever Polanski is in the news, the six-page...

The 76 year old child-rapist is pretty much out of options. The court battle over extradition could take years, and with no hope of bail that means those years would be spent in prison. If he then loses that fight he’ll still have to face whatever penalty awaits him here in the States. At his age, there aren’t many years to waste. Taking his chances here is probably the wise move.

The United States has formally asked Switzerland to extradite detained Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski over a three-decades-old child sex case, Swiss authorities say. "The US Embassy in Bern submitted the formal extradition request to the Federal Office of Justice on 22 October 2009, within the deadline of 40 days stipulated under the bilateral extradition treaty," the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said in a statement on Friday. The request will now be forwarded to the canton of Zurich, where Polanski was detained upon his arrival on September 26 to collect an award at the city's film festival. A local court...

Just a question about the release of the Lockerbee murderer. Why didn't the U.S. ask for extradition when the Feds found out the murderer was going to be released?I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that would be the first thing I would have considered.

<p>A Thai court on Tuesday rejected the extradition of a man dubbed the "Merchant of Death", whom the U.S. government accuses of selling millions of dollars in weapons to Colombian rebels.</p> <p>In rejecting the extradition request, the court said the case of Viktor Bout was politically motivated. U.S. authorities have 72 hours to decide whether to appeal. In the absence of an appeal, Bout will walk out of jail a free man.</p>

SCRANTON – A federal judge has denied a Meshoppen woman’s request to stay her extradition to Canada on a charge of negligent homicide for the shooting death of her husband. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Malachy Mannion did grant Mary Beth Harshbarger an additional week to surrender to allow her attorney time to file a court challenge to Mannion’s prior ruling that denied Harshbarger’s request to halt her extradition entirely. Harshbarger, 43, faces extradition in connection with the Sept. 13, 2006 shooting death of her husband, Mark, during a hunting trip to Buchans Junction, Newfoundland. Harshbarger claims she accidentally shot Mark...

Here is something the Government told us would never happen. When Britain signed up to the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) six years ago, critics pointed out that an individual could be extradited to another EU state to face prosecution for something that is not a crime in Britain and had not even been committed in the requesting country. Ministers dismissed such concerns as fanciful, but it has come to pass.An Australian teacher is currently in jail in London, following his arrest at Heathrow airport by British police acting on a warrant issued by the German authorities. Gerald Töben, 64, is...

SERBIA (WABC) -- Serbia will not extradite a Serb student wanted in the United States on assault charges, the foreign minister said Monday. Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Miladin Kovacevic would not be sent to the U.S. to face charges of severely beating a fellow university student because Serbian law does not allow extradition of its citizens. "Kovacevic will not be extradited," Jeremic told independent B-92 television. "Serbia is a sovereign and democratic country with an independent judiciary," Jeremic said, suggesting U.S. authorities should hand over the case file so Kovacevic could be prosecuted in Serbia. Kovacevic, 20, had been...

A US soldier who deserted to Canada and sought refugee status for opposing the war in Iraq has been extradited to the United States, officials said, in Canada's first such case since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "I can confirm that he has been expelled from Canada and returned to his country of origin," Shakila Manzoor, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency (ASFC) said. US citizen Robin Long, 25, fled to Canada in 2005 and demanded refugee status, claiming he would suffer irreparable harm if he were sent back to the United States. He also argued that he...

Amid fierce U.S. government protests over the release of a suspect in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Mexico yesterday pledged close cooperation with U.S. authorities. But Mexican officials said they have yet to receive a request for his extradition or arrest. Jesús Navarro Montes, who is suspected of drug smuggling, is accused by U.S. authorities of driving a sport utility vehicle over agent Luis Aguilar in January near the U.S.-Mexico border west of Yuma. Navarro was released from a Mexicali prison earlier this month after Judge Laura Serrano Alderete, of the Baja California 12th District, cleared him...

LONDON (Reuters) - A British court ruled Thursday that radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri could be extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges including trying to set up an al Qaeda training camp in Oregon. Egyptian-born Hamza, 49, serving a seven-year jail term in Britain for inciting his followers to murder nonbelievers, is wanted by U.S. authorities on 11 charges. The U.S. indictment accuses Hamza -- who had a hook in place of a missing hand -- of attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, from 1999 to early 2000, and also providing...

San Francisco (AP) -- Television bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, who had his reality show taken off the air after getting caught using a racial slur, will not be extradited to Mexico to face a pending appeal of kidnapping charges against him, a judge ruled Monday. The U.S. government had been trying to send Chapman, his son Leland Chapman and a third man to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, where they were charged with kidnapping Andrew Luster, a Max Factor heir who had jumped a $1 million bond on charges that he drugged and raped three women. Luster's disappearance...

MATAMOROS — One of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives was captured Saturday near Matamoros and spent the night in Cameron County. Donald Edward Lynch, 66, was spotted by police about 20 miles from here in El Mesquital. He has been featured several times on the television program America’s Most Wanted, most recently on Aug. 5 last year. Lynch is wanted in Tennessee on 11 counts of rape of a child, 38 counts of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and five counts of aggravated sexual battery. The FBI obtained a warrant for his arrest after he fled to Mexico....

AP) The father of a 5-year-old Cuban girl at the center of an international custody battle did not abandon or neglect her, so he should get her back, a judge ruled Thursday. Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen said she would not immediately return the girl to her father, Cuban farmer Rafael Izquierdo, who wants to take her back to Cuba. The girl went into foster care after her mother brought her to the U.S. in 2005 and then attempted suicide days before Christmas. She has been living with foster parents in Miami for the past 18 months and they want...

Clinton Donor Hsu To Waive Extradition WednesdayCourt Appearance Could Officially End 15-Year Run From Law UPDATED: 2:50 pm PDT September 18, 2007 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu is scheduled to appear in a Grand Junction courtroom Wednesday to formally waive extradition and officially end his 15-year run from California authorities, court officials said Tuesday. Hsu was arrested in Grand Junction by FBI agents on Sept. 6 after failing to show up for a court appearance in San Mateo County related to a 1991 felony theft conviction. He boarded the train in Emeryville about an hour and...

MIAMI - A judge refused Friday to block the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France, where he is accused of laundering millions of dollars in drug proceeds through French banks. Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler rejected arguments by Noriega's lawyers that his status as a U.S. prisoner of war negated the French request under the Geneva Conventions and required his return home to Panama. The decision, which could be appealed, means a hearing before another judge will go forward Tuesday on the extradition request. Hoeveler, in a 12-page decision, said his designation of Noriega as a...

Jul 23, 2007 7:57 am US/Eastern Noriega's Lawyers To Challenge French Extradition (CBS4) MIAMI Lawyers for former Panamanian dictator Manual Noriega will challenge a new French extradition request in a Miami courtroom Monday on the grounds that it violates his rights as a prisoner of war. Noriega is currently behind bars in southwest Miami-Dade County. In 1992, he was convicted of protecting Colombian cocaine shipments through Panama into the U.S. during the 1980s. Federal prosecutors want to have Noriega extradited to France to face trial after the U.S. drug trafficking sentence he is serving ends in September. Noriega is charged...

Russia vows response to UK expulsions By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer 18 minutes ago Russia on Tuesday vowed a "targeted and appropriate" response to Britain's expulsion of four diplomats in a mounting confrontation over the probe into the radiation poisoning death of a former KGB officer. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko criticized Britain for demanding the extradition of the key suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, emphasizing that Russia's constitituion forbids it, and urged other European nations not to gang up against the Kremlin. The dispute could derail recent American efforts to ease increasing tension between Russia and...

Fujimori to run for office in Japan as trial in Peru looms by Harumi Ozawa Thu Jun 28, 4:31 AM ET Peru's ex-president Alberto Fujimori has announced he will run for office in Japan in another bizarre twist to the career of the former strongman who is under house arrest in Chile. Fujimori, who holds both Japanese and Peruvian citizenship, confirmed late Wednesday he would stand in the July 29 elections for the upper house as a candidate of a tiny political party. The move is seen by critics as an attempt to thwart extradition efforts by Peru to bring...

LONDON - The United States argued Thursday for the extradition of a radical Islamic cleric imprisoned in Britain, accusing him of involvement in a global conspiracy to wage terrorist attacks on the U.S. and other Western countries. Abu Hamza al-Masri has been charged in the United States with trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen and facilitating terrorist training in Afghanistan. He is serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for fomenting racial hatred and urging his followers to kill non-Muslims. "He advocated the defense of Islam through unlawful, violent and armed aggression,"...

Row with Pakistan stalls extradition By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad Last Updated: 12:34am BST 30/04/2007 British attempts to secure the extradition of a key terrorist suspect from Pakistan have become mired in a behind-the-scenes diplomatic row. The request for the extradition of Rashid Rauf, a suspected ringleader of the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, has been stalled by Pakistani demands for greater "reciprocity" from Britain. Pakistan has presented London with a list of demands, including the extradition of at least eight suspected members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an armed group fighting a low-intensity insurgency in the...

The wife of a very good friend has just been ordered to return to California because of a real screw up in paperwork from a DUI 7 years ago. I need the name of a good attorney in Solano County, Fairfield area. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it. Thanks

France is one of three EU countries to sign an extradition text with China France has signed an extradition treaty with China despite concerns expressed by human rights groups over Beijing's use of the death penalty. France's justice minister said a suspect would be extradited in cases punishable by death only if China guaranteed they would not be executed. Pascal Clement also said the treaty excluded offences judged to be political or military. France is the third EU country after Spain and Portugal to sign such a pact. "This treaty explicitly anticipates the rejection of extradition requests based on...

Victim's Mother Wants Accused Returned From Canada Tuesday January 16, 2007 5:35pm Benton (AP) - The mother of a slain Saline County man says she would be letting her dead son down if she agreed to any prosecution plan that would prevent Arkansas from seeking an accused man's execution. Timothy Wallace is being held in a Calgary, Alberta, jail pending a return to the U-S. Canada wants an assurance from the United States that Wallace would not be put to death if he is convicted in the 2005 deaths of Billy Hassell and Wallace's former wife Brandy. Sissy Brady, Hassell's...

MEXICO CITY (Sept. 16) - Mexico extradited drug kingpin Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix to the United States on Saturday, making him the first major Mexican drug lord to be sent north to face drug charges.

BANGKOK, Thailand - The American suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey told investigators that he drugged and had sex with the 6-year-old beauty queen before accidentally killing her, a senior Thai police officer said Thursday. An autopsy on Ramsey said a blood screening showed no drugs or alcohol in her body but said she had vaginal abrasions. Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police, said by telephone that he was not present for the questioning, which was conducted by U.S. law enforcement officials. But, according to what the general said he was told of the questioning, the...

GARY MULGREW, David Bermingham, Giles Darby, Ken Lay, Eliot Spitzer, Hank Greenberg — the list goes on. The first three, now known as “the NatWest Three”, are awaiting extradition to the United States to face charges in connection with the collapse of Enron. Lay, of course, is — was — the founder of Enron, and a former client and friend. Found guilty of a variety of crimes, his death in Aspen last week ends the probability that he would be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail. Spitzer and Greenberg, the New York attorney general and the...

. NEVER FORGET Communist North Korea's multiple 4th of July missile launches into the area of the Sea of Japan... ...are just more typical Communist TV diversions away from our own worndrous, and out in the open or all to see, space successes like today's beautiful Space Shuttle Discovery launch into Earth's orbit that brings us one step closer to the Planet Mars. These nearby Communist North Korean missle launches should really serve to inspire the President of Free South Korea into NOT complying with a former President of Communist Vietnam's letter demanding extradition of detained Vietnamese-American Freedom fighter and...

The woman and the elder girl of Saddam Hussein sought by Iraq BAGHDAD - the woman and the elder girl of Iraqi president deposed Saddam Hussein, who live both in exile, are reproduced on a new list of 41 the most sought people, whose Iraq required the extradition, published Sunday by the Iraqi adviser for national safety. "This list will be posted everywhere in the institutions of gouvernment, in the mosques and elsewhere to help to stop them" declared with the press Mouaffak Al-Roubaïe. "These people are responsible for the majority of the attacks and the murders perpetrated without...

Gary McKinnon leaves Bow Street Magistrates' Court yesterday after a judge recommended that he be extradited to the US (DAVID BEBBER) A BRITISH man accused of the biggest military hacking operation yet faces trial in the US after a judge recommended him for extradition yesterday. Gary McKinnon believes that he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay and tried by a military tribunal if his extradition goes ahead. He said that he was “practically already hung and quartered” if US government claims that he would face a federal court in Virginia proved correct. Mr McKinnon, 40, is alleged to have caused...

UK hacker Gary McKinnon should be recommended for extradition to the US, a district court judge has ruled. The decision means Mr McKinnon will face trial in America for what the US has called "the biggest military hack of all time". Although he has admitted hacking US military networks, Mr McKinnon said he was motivated by curiosity not malice. The final decision on whether the Londoner should be sent to the US for trial rests with the home secretary. Hack attack The decision was given at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London and ends three years of uncertainty for Mr...

Vietnamese Faces Extradition Over Alleged Terror Plot By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter The Ministry of Justice said on Friday that law enforcement authorities have arrested an unidentified Vietnamese national suspected of plotting terrorist attacks against his country’s overseas diplomatic posts. The man has been held in the Seoul Detention Center since April 4 when he was taken into custody from a hotel in Seoul, the ministry said. ``The Vietnamese government asked us to arrest the man who is wanted for his alleged role in masterminding terror plots against the Southeast Asian country’s diplomatic missions overseas,’’ a ministry official said. He...

On March 28,2006 Ly Tong went on a hunger strike at Rayong, a Thai Prison near Bangkok . A hand written note from Ly Tong was given to a prison guard who later turned it over to James Code, a Senior Political Officer with the US Embassy in Thailand. "I will continue the hunger strike until I die to protest my extradition to Vietnam" Ly Tong said to his attorney. "I've already sent a letter to the Justice Minister of Thailand informing him of my situation. You will receive the document from me within 2-3 days. You must request that...

SALT LAKE CITY During her visit to Lebanon last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought extradition of five men–one of them missing Utah Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun, a Lebanese newspaper reported. The Daily Star said in a story posted on its Web site Monday that the Lebanese government has refused persistent U.S. requests to hand over the five Lebanese citizens. However, it quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying the refusal was not final, and the request was currently under study by officials. "We have no official final comment at this point,'' the spokesman told the newspaper. A...

In a case that became a symbol of how illegal immigrant fugitives escape U.S. justice, the man accused of murdering sheriff's Deputy David March in 2002 has been arrested in Mexico and is facing extradition, authorities said Thursday. Armando Garcia was captured Thursday in Jalisco, and officials with the attorney general's office in Mexico City said they will begin extradition proceedings expected to take about two months. "It's a great day," said March's widow, Theresa. "I feel so relieved that no one was hurt. No one has to live another nightmare at the hands of Armando Garcia." March, a 33-year-old...

LOS ANGELES – A man convicted of shooting his ex-wife and suspected of killing her father was captured in Mexico and could become a test case for new Mexican extradition rules, officials said. Mexico had been a sanctuary to U.S. murder suspects facing life sentences until November, when that country's highest court overturned a 4-year-old ban preventing extradition for suspects who could face life without parole. Daniel Perez, 34, is now the first person facing extradition under that ruling, officials said. He was captured in Mazatlan on Monday, more than six years after his ex-wife was kidnapped and shot and...

A BRITISH al-Qaeda suspect told a judge who ordered his extradition to the United States on terror charges yesterday that he fears he will be sent to Guantanamo Bay and tortured. Lawyers for Haroon Rashid Aswat, who was brought up in Yorkshire, said that they would appeal against the ruling, which could delay any decision on his removal for many months. The FBI claims that the former street-market trader tried to set up a terrorist training camp in the backwoods of Oregon for US and British recruits before the attacks on September 11, 2001.

BEIRUT, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Germany has secretly released a Hizbollah member jailed for life for killing a U.S. Navy diver and returned him to Lebanon despite an extradition request from the United States, Lebanese political sources said on Tuesday. They said Mohammad Ali Hammadi, convicted of killing Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight to Beirut and sentenced to life without parole, was flown back to Beirut last week.

Portland, OR: An Animal Liberation Front saboteur from Canada who emerged as a seminal figure in a wave of North American eco-sabotage nearly two decades ago was indicted Wednesday in Portland by a federal grand jury for allegedly carrying a phony green card. Darren Thurston was arrested last week in Northwest Portland with an Oregon woman suspected of taking part in a series of arson and vandalism in the Pacific Northwest dating to 1998. Thurston's entree into the case throws an international twist into the United States' most extensive eco-sabotage bust. Thurston and Chelsea Gerlach were arrested as they stepped...

DENVER (AP) - A man accused of killing a Denver police officer can be extradited to the United States, the Consulate General of Mexico said. Raul Gomez-Garcia was charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Detective Donald Young and the wounding of Detective John H. Bishop in May while the men were working off-duty as security for a party. He has been jailed in Mexico since he was captured there in June. Gomez-Garcia has 15 working days to appeal, the Mexican Consulate said in a news release Thursday. If he does not, he could be returned...

The House yesterday approved a $20.9 billion foreign-aid package that includes a provision to cut off funding to countries that refuse to extradite anyone suspected of killing a U.S. law enforcement officer. The extradition section is aimed at resolving a long-standing treaty dispute with Mexico... the amount at stake [for Mexico] is about $40 million... Next week, the Senate is expected to approve the bill, which passed the House 358-39, and send it to the president for his signature. As many as 4,000 fugitives have avoided arrest on murder warrants in the United States by fleeing to Mexico. An estimated...

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai has asked Pakistan to extradite the captured chief spokesman of his country's ousted Taliban regime, Abdul Latif Hakimi. "We are very pleased to see that the Pakistani authorities have arrested this individual who is responsible for so many atrocities in Afghanistan," said. Hakimi has been the Taliban's spokesman since early 2004 and frequently spoke with the international media to claim responsibility for attacks on Afghan and US-led forces. Hakimi was arrested yesterday in Pakistan's south-western province of Baluchistan, which shares a long and rugged border with Afghanistan.

Mental health key issue Gregory Allen Despres was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his elderly Minto neighbours Richard Duplain The Daily Gleaner September 17, 2005 MINTO MURDER SUSPECT (THE DAILY GLEANER - RAY BOURGEOIS PHOTO) - Gregory Allen Despres is led into provincial court Friday in Burton to face two counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of killing Fred Fulton and Veronica (Verna) Decarie in their Minto home in late April. The man charged in a gruesome double murder in Minto will undergo a full psychological assessment to determine whether he is...

THE man intelligence experts believe may be the "missing link" between the London suicide bombers and the al-Qaeda network is set to be extradited to Britain from Pakistan. The government yesterday revealed that British and Pakistani diplomats are on the verge of signing the countries' first ever extradition treaty. Zeeshan Siddiqui, 25, a British national who was arrested in Pakistan in May, is expected to be among the first to face extradition. Another six detainees, mostly Pakistani nationals, might also face extradition. The Home Office yesterday said negotiations on the treaty were in their "final stages". As well as possibly...

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court declined on Wednesday to block the extradition to Thailand of an American who faces the death penalty there for drug smuggling. The United States started legal proceedings against Suwit Prasoprat, an American citizen, in 2001 on behalf of Thai authorities after a drug enforcement informer said he was involved in smuggling heroin between Bangkok and Los Angeles. Prasoprat fought the extradition, saying among other things that the move should be denied on humanitarian grounds because he faced the death penalty. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, today praised final passage of the Senate appropriations bill for State and Foreign Operations. The bill includes a Chambliss amendment which prohibits funding assistance to a country that refuses to extradite certain individuals to the United States. “If a country refuses to turn in criminal suspects to be brought to justice where the crime occurred in the United States, then that country should not receive any financial aid from the United States under the State and Foreign Operations appropriations legislation,” said Chambliss. Typically, countries refuse extradition when prosecutors in the United States intend to seek...

LONDON (AP) - The British government said Friday it has been granted more time to decide whether to extradite a British man facing terrorism charges in the United States. A judge ruled May 17 that Babar Ahmad could be sent to the United States to face charges of supporting terrorism, conspiring to kill Americans and running a Web site used to fund terrorists. Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the top British official in charge of law and order, had 60 days to decide whether Ahmad would be extradited. That period expires Friday, but the Home Office said Clarke had obtained an...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A radical environmentalist who is one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives told an extradition hearing Monday he was being unfairly targeted by the U.S. government and should be allowed to remain in Canada. Tre Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of taking part in the 2001 firebombings of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI also claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years. "I am being targeted by the U.S. government and the FBI,...

In the first extradition of a Mexican fugitive to Los Angeles in four years, a man suspected of trying to kill two sheriff's deputies with an AK-47 assault rifle has been returned to the United States for prosecution, officials said Thursday. Mexican authorities have refused to extradite to the U.S. as many as 3,000 fugitives -- including up to 1,000 accused of crimes in California -- since their nation's Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that people facing the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole could not be returned to America. But last year, Mexican courts granted the extraditions of...