Irish passport ‘will not save millionaire from death row’

US PROSECUTORS have said a fugitive millionaire accused of killing his wife will not be spared the death penalty because he carries an Irish passport.

Atlanta resident, James Sullivan, 61, began the first day of his extradition battle in a Thailand courtroom yesterday and is expected to deny the 1987 killing of his wife, Lita McClinton Sullivan.

Sullivan fled to Thailand nearly five years ago after allegedly paying a contract killer to murder his wife on the day the couple’s divorce settlement was to come before an Atlanta court.