Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

regarding extradition

My fiance was recently arrested on a warrant from a crime they believe he committed in 1999. They want to extradite him to another state on conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery charges. He was told this case was closed more than 3 years ago and when he checked into it less than a year ago was able to find no warrant. He was recently told that this case has been tried in absentia and the co-conspirators pinned all the charges on him as part of their plea bargains, as well as a grand theft auto charge that was committed by one of the defendants who rented a car he did not return and my fiance was released, as he was a passenger in the car. My question is, can he fight this extradition based on the fact that they tried him in absentia and the crime happened more than a decade ago and all of their so-called evidence is hearsay and circumstantial evidence from these co-conspirators and he will not get a chance to be tried and defend himself if he is extradited? And, in your opinion, will a public defender actually TRY to defend him against extradition??


Asked on 5/05/09, 4:46 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
James J. White, attorney Law Offices of Smith & White, PLLC

Re: regarding extradition

Someone famous said, "Since they accused me in absentia, tried my in absentia and sentenced me in absentia, let my sentence [execution] be carried out in abstentia." Or something like that. Washington State does allow for implied waiver of presence. However, there are certain criterion that must be met. If not met, there may be an argument that the case is a due process violation. As such, that may be a defense to extradition. The public defender will try but has very little time, especially for such an esoteric legal issue. I know money is always an issue but if you wish to have a reasonable chance of prevailing I highly recommend you hire a private attorney in this case. There are many times when I think the public defender is good and even better than private counsel. This is not one of those instances.

At your service,

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Answered on 5/05/09, 12:09 pm


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