In Re: Howard v.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJune 30, 1993
Docket92-1633
StatusPublished

This text of In Re: Howard v. (In Re: Howard v.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re: Howard v., (1st Cir. 1993).

Opinion

USCA1 Opinion


UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

_________________________

No. 92-1633

IN RE: EXTRADITION OF CURTIS ANDREW HOWARD.

_________________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Petitioner, Appellee,

v.

CURTIS ANDREW HOWARD,

Respondent, Appellant.

_________________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Edward F. Harrington, U.S. District Judge]
___________________

_________________________

Before

Selya, Circuit Judge,
_____________
Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge,
____________________
and Cyr, Circuit Judge.
_____________

_________________________

Jeffrey A. Denner, with whom George Garfinkle and Perkins,
__________________ _________________ ________
Smith & Cohen were on brief, for appellant.
_____________
Victor A. Wild, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom
______________
A. John Pappalardo, United States Attorney, was on brief, for
___________________
appellee.

_________________________

June 30, 1993
_________________________

SELYA, Circuit Judge. This appeal presents several
SELYA, Circuit Judge.
_____________

issues of first impression in extradition law generally and, more

specifically, regarding a rather distinctive extradition treaty

in force between the United States and the United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland (U.K.). We must determine,

inter alia, (1) whether, under the treaty, the second of two
_____ ____

successive appeals from a certification of extraditability is

within our jurisdiction; (2) if so, what standard of review

governs such appeals; (3) whether the treaty alters the venerable

rule of noninquiry; and (4) if so, to what extent. After

grappling with these, and other, matters, we eventually address

the merits of the appeal and conclude that the determination of

extraditability must stand.

I. BACKGROUND
I. BACKGROUND

The seeds of this appeal were sown on June 1, 1991,

when a policeman discovered the mutilated body of Catherine

Elizabeth Ayling, a young white female, in the trunk of a rental

car abandoned at England's Gatwick Airport. Suspicion

immediately centered on respondent-appellant Curtis Andrew

Howard, a United States citizen. Charges were preferred.

Because Howard had returned to his native land, British

authorities sought to extradite him. On June 5, 1991, the United

States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts requested and

received from a federal magistrate judge a warrant for Howard's

provisional arrest. See 18 U.S.C. 3184 (1988 & Supp. II 1990);
___

D. Mass. Loc. Mag. R. 1(e). Howard was apprehended. He appeared

2

for an extradition hearing before the magistrate judge on

September 10, 1991.

At the hearing Howard did not dispute the existence of

probable cause to believe he had murdered Ayling. Rather,

Howard, who is black, argued that he would be prejudiced during

legal proceedings in the U.K. by reason of his race and

nationality, a circumstance which, if true, constituted a defense

to extradition under the relevant treaty. See Supplementary
___

Extradition Treaty, June 25, 1985, U.S.-U.K., art. 3(a),

reprinted in S. Exec. Rep. No. 17, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 15-17
_________ __

(1986) (Supplementary Treaty). In support of this defense,

Howard proffered evidence of flamboyant publicity surrounding his

case, sought to show that Britons would likely be prejudiced

against blacks particularly those accused of murdering young

white females and pointed out that England's legal system does

not make any provision for voir dire of prospective jurors.

These proffers did not sufficiently impress the magistrate: he

ruled that Howard had not established a valid defense to

extradition and thereupon issued a certification of

extraditability, together with an order of commitment.1 See 18
___

U.S.C. 3184.

____________________

1The magistrate found that all the basic prerequisites to
extradition had been fulfilled in that the United States and the
U.K. are parties to an extradition treaty; a criminal charge is
pending against Howard in the U.K.; the charged offense is an
extraditable crime under the treaty; the person charged is the
same person whom the government wants extradited; an arrest
warrant is outstanding; and probable cause exists to believe that
Howard committed the crime. None of these findings are contested
on appeal.

3

Howard appealed. The district court exercised

jurisdiction, reviewed the magistrate's findings for clear error,

and affirmed. See In re Howard, 791 F. Supp. 31 (D. Mass. 1992).
___ ____________

Howard appeals anew.

II. THE SUPPLEMENTARY TREATY
II. THE SUPPLEMENTARY TREATY

Because the Supplementary Treaty departs from accepted

extradition protocol, we trace its origins and spotlight its key

provisions.

In 1972, the United States and the U.K. negotiated new

terms governing reciprocal extradition from one nation's

territory of persons accused or convicted of certain offenses

committed in the other nation.

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