"Lawyer tells appeals panel Chafee has right to refuse transfer of murder suspect to federal system," written by Katie Mulvaney is in today's Providence Journal. The article has extensive coverage of the hearing for readers who want more detail.
A lawyer for Governor Chafee argued Thursday that he has the right to refuse to surrender a murder suspect to federal authorities under an agreement governing the transfer of inmates between states.
Claire Richards, Chafee’s chief counsel, told a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that federal prosecutors have two options when seeking custody of an inmate in state prison. They can get a court order forcing a state to relinquish custody, or they can invoke the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, a federal law that sets the government on par with states, Richards said.
In the case of accused murderer Jason Wayne Pleau, Richards said, prosecutors opted to pursue custody through the interstate agreement by placing a detainer on Pleau. Prosecutors now must abide by all the agreement’s provisions, including one that gives the governor authority to refuse a custody request, she said.
The government cannot, Richards said, seek a court order as an alternative means to get Pleau when it dislikes Chafee’s response, as prosecutors have done in Pleau’s case.
And:
Of the 216,679 federal inmates, 60 are under a federal death sentence, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. The last person executed under the federal system was Louis Jones Jr., a decorated Army veteran who kidnapped, raped and bludgeoned Tracie Joy McBride with a tire iron on Feb. 18, 1995. He died by lethal injection in 2003.
The Boston Globe reports, "R.I. tries to bar defendant transfer to US." It's by Milton J. Valencia.
A lawyer for Governor Lincoln D. Chafee of Rhode Island argued before a federal appeals court panel in Boston yesterday that the state had a right to refuse to turn over a defendant charged with murder to federal authorities, a move intended to protect the man from the death penalty.
The governor exercised his discretion on a public policy basis and refused the request,’’ Claire Richards, Chafee’s chief legal officer, told the three-member panel of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
And:
It is believed to be the first case testing a governor’s refusal to hand over a defendant under a decades-old Interstate Agreement Detainers Act, which allows for the US government to act like a state in the handing over of defendants.
But Donald Lockhart, a lawyer for Rhode Island US Attorney Peter Neronha, argued that the governor’s office has no standing in the case and that the US government was exercising its right to prosecute because the homicide occurred under its jurisdiction.
"Prosecutors oppose move by Chafee to join appeal in custody battle over RI murder suspect," is the AP report, via the Republic.
An appeals court must decide whether to turn Pleau over to federal authorities or honor Chafee's decision to keep him in state custody. Chafee opposes the death penalty. Pleau has agreed to plead guilty to state murder charges and serve life in prison without parole.
Ealier coverage of the standoff between state and federal officials begins at the link.
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