Prosecutors Desk 11-10-10

This past week was relatively quiet in the court system. One unusual thing is that we were involved with the Extradition process with 3 different defendants. Two of them did the usual thing and waived the entire process and returned to where they were wanted. The third, had earlier resisted voluntary return and this past week was served with the Governor’s Warrant.
When a person is wanted in one state and is found in another state, there is a method where by he can be returned to the state where he is wanted. This process is called Extradition. It is based on an agreement between states to honor each others requests and be of assistance to each other. There are some limitations to the process, but generally it works well. One limitation is that it applies only to felonies as a general rule, but it could be used for misdemeanors if it was truly desired. The process takes about 6 weeks.
It starts with Law Enforcement checking on a person and finding the person is wanted in another state. If the person is wanted for a felony, the officer can arrest the person. The requesting state is then asked if they really want the person. If the state says yes, person is informed of their rights and asked by the court if they will waive Extradition. If they waive, they are sent immediately. If not, the Governor’s Warrant process is started. Basically what happens is that documents are prepared by the Attorney General in the requesting state, signed by that Governor and then sent to the Governor of the state that has the defendant. That Governor then signs the Warrant and instructs local authorities to surrender the defendant to the requesting state.
A defendant has some ways to resist Extradition, but basically the process is bulletproof so long as the documents are in order, and they usually are. They were in order in the matter of Gabriel Lourero Ribeiro who was picked up here, but was wanted in Montana for several probation violations. He refused to waive extradition, so the governors of the two states were involved in order to return him to Libby, Montana to face his violations. The signed Governor’s Warrant was served on him on Tuesday, and he will be returned to Montana to face his charges. A wanted person can run, but it is hard to hide in one state from the power of another state.

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