Ireland and US clash over extradition requests
Officials in the Department of Justice believe US law enforcement agencies are to blame for making mistakes when compiling extradition papers. Authorities in America argue suspects facing extradition are effectively tried in Ireland before a request is granted.
Details of the row, so serious that it has led to the intervention of the US Ambassador John Kenny, have emerged ahead of a bail hearing for a man accused of the drink driving deaths of three college students in Washington state in 2001.
Frederick Russell, 27, was arrested last month after being kept under surveillance for months as extradition papers were being prepared.
The last person to be extradited from here to the US was Beth Ann Carpenter, a lawyer later convicted of the murder of her brother-in-law. However, she was only sent back after abandoning her legal fight against the extradition.
Since then, various US agencies have attempted to extradite 12 people. Five have been turned down by the courts, five were processed but failed for various other reasons while two fled the jurisdiction before the case was concluded.
Washington prosecutor Carol Laverne, who is trying the Russell case, complained that she had spent months compiling a package of between 100 and 150 pages, including a statement from the person who first took the accused’s fingerprints after his arrest.
Investigators described the process as a “hell of a journey”.
Department of Justice officials say the US agencies, despite being told exactly what is required, have failed in the past to properly put together extradition papers.
A core problem is the different legislation in the two jurisdictions. Mr Russell is charged with the three counts of vehicular homicide, which has no direct equivalent in Irish law. The closest is dangerous driving causing death.
Mr Kenny has raised the issue with Irish officials, but has been told that it is up to US agencies to compile the papers properly.
Russell, who worked as a security guard in Dublin and lived with his girlfriend in Co Kildare, fled the US after being bailed on charges of causing the deaths of Stacy Morrow, Ryan Sorenson and Brandon Clements. He will today apply to the High Court for bail. An unnamed businessman will offer to post bail.
- The 64-year-old Californian doctor, a convicted child molester with an Irish passport, fled while a jury was considering their verdict on 10 charges of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl. US authorities claim their Irish counterparts took so long working on extradition requests that he was able to slip out of the US. He was arrested in Uruguay last month.
- The Co Cork couple face charges in Chicago, Illinois, of kidnapping their grandson Dylan Benwell, nine, in July last year. They were arrested almost a year after the child was returned to his parents in the US.
- More than two years after it was made, a High Court judge earlier this year turned down a request to extradite the 55-year-old priest charged with child sexual abuse in Arizona.
- The 67-year-old businessman is charged with selling bogus aircraft parts intended for use by, among others, the Irish and US military. Authorities in Arizona launched extradition proceedings after he was charged in February 2004.
- The last person to be extradited from Ireland to the US. The extradition only occurred when she dropped her appeal and after top level political assurances were given that she would not face the death penalty.
