Latest update December 12th, 2024 1:00 AM
Extradition proceeding for US murder suspect… Magistrate awaits High Court ruling before continuation of hearing
Troy Anthony Thomas
A City Magistrate said that she will await the High Court ruling before she continues to hear the matter of Troy Anthony Thomas, who is wanted in the United States for murder.
This comes six days after his battery of lawyers filed a fixed date application in the High Court to prevent the extradition proceeding at the Magistrates’ Courts.
Yesterday when the matter was called before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Providence Magistrates’ Courts, the lawyers told the Magistrate about the application they filed on the behalf of their client in the High Court.
Attorney-at-law Stacy Goodings who is representing the Government of United States, told the court that she is of the opinion that the Magistrates’ Courts has the jurisdiction to continue the extradition proceeding, and that the State is ready to proceed with the matter.
The Magistrate after listening to both sides took the decision to grant an adjournment in the matter and to give the High Court an opportunity to rule on the matter. The matter was adjourned until May 10 for report.
The lawyers – Nigel Hughes, Bernard DaSilva and Darren Wade – last week filed a fixed date application before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow in the High Court.
The lawyers fixed date application stated that a declaration that the United States of America (extradition) order in council 1935 does not form part of the domestic laws of Guyana, hence the declaration that the provisions of the United States of America (extradition) order in council 1935 No. 574 cannot be enforced by a Magistrate.
They added that the provisions of section 8 (3) (3B) (B) of the Fugitive Offenders Act 1988 insofar as it purports to direct a Magistrate, High Court, Full Court and Court of Appeal on the interpretation of the law of a commonwealth county, a treaty territory or a treaty relating to the extradition of fugitive offenders act is unconstitutional.
The lawyers are contending that Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus possesses no authority at law or otherwise to enforce the provisions of the Treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States of America for the mutual extradition of fugitive criminals signed on December 22, 1931.
They added that the provisions are unconstitutional, null and void or have no legal effect.
The lawyers are contending that their client is a citizen of Guyana and he is entitled to the protection of the provision of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
They say the provisions of the treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States were never incorporated into the domestic laws of Guyana, and remained at all material times a treaty between sovereign states.
The lawyers also emphasised that there was no provision in the aforesaid treaty which restricted the requesting state from extraditing a fugitive offender to a third state without the permission of the Minister of Public Security in Guyana.
In the absence of any provision in the treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States preventing the extradition of the applicant to third state by the requesting state, the Minister of Public Security is not empowered to consider and/or grant an authority to proceed to the Chief Magistrate for extradition of the applicant from Guyana to the United States of America.
Section 8 of the Fugitive Offenders Act cannot purport to change and/or direct a court to interpret as changing the terms and articles of the Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom as succeeded by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
On the last court appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, the lawyers stated that the rights of their client are being infringed upon because the matter is being heard in the lower court. As such, they moved to the High Court where they say the matter will be fully ventilated and addressed.
The lawyers said that the Magistrate is sitting without power when such matters cannot be dealt with in the Magistrates’ Courts.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Raises and Recognition
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- In the movie, Saturday Night Fever, Tony Manero‘s boss offers him a raise after he... more
High-Stakes Bid for OAS Secretary General post
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The election of a new Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS),... more
Weekend Cartoon
