Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 218

Cite as: 558 U. S. 53 (2009) 

57 

Opinion of the Court 

sion  broadcast  Sept.  22,  1985)  (videos  available  in  Clerk  of 
Court’s  case  ﬁle).  Canadian  authorities  ultimately  acqui­
esced to overtures from the United States and agreed to ex­
tradite Kindler.  Kindler, 536 Pa., at 231, 639 A. 2d, at 2. 

But  before  Kindler  could  be  transferred  from  Canadian 
custody, he escaped again.  On the night of October 23, 1986, 
Kindler broke through a skylight on the 13th ﬂoor of the jail 
(his fellow inmates had hoisted him up to the skylight 15 feet 
above the ﬂoor) and escaped to the roof, where he stood 175 
feet  above  ground.  Armed  with  13  stories’  worth  of  bed­
sheets  tied  together,  Kindler  safely  rappelled  down  the  side 
of  the  jail. 
(A  fellow  escapee  was  not  as  lucky—the  sheets 
ripped  on  his  way  down,  causing  him  to  fall  50  feet  to  his 
death.)  Kindler, 554 Pa., at 517–519, 722 A. 2d, at 145. 

This  time,  Kindler  remained  on  the  lam  for  nearly  two 
years,  until  he  was  featured  on  the  popular  television  show, 
“America’s  Most  Wanted.”  Characterizing  Kindler  as  “an 
above  average  criminal”  and  “a  chess  player  who  under­
stands when to make his move,” the show asked viewers for 
information  to  help  capture  him.  America’s  Most  Wanted, 
Sept. 4, 1988, Season 1, Episode 30, at 10:01.  Several view­
ers  recognized  Kindler  and  notiﬁed  Canadian  authorities, 
who  arrested  him  in  September  1988.  554  Pa.,  at  519,  722 
A. 2d, at 145. 

Kindler again fought extradition.  On September 16, 1991, 
after three years of litigation, the Supreme Court of Canada 
rejected  Kindler’s  efforts.  See  Kindler,  [1991]  2  S.  C.  R. 
779, 84 D. L. R. (4th) 438.  That same day, Canadian ofﬁcials 
extradited  Kindler  to  the  United  States.  Kindler  v.  Horn, 
291 F. Supp. 2d 323, 334 (ED Pa. 2003). 

In the meantime, in 1984, the Pennsylvania trial court had 
dismissed Kindler’s postverdict motions because of his origi­
nal  escape.  Once  back in  the  United  States, Kindler  ﬁled  a 
motion  to  reinstate  those  challenges  to  his  conviction  and 
sentence.  The trial  court denied the  reinstatement motion, 
holding  that  the  trial  court  judge  who  had  dismissed  the