Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 196

524US1

Unit: $U80

[09-06-00 20:24:32] PAGES PGT: OPIN

OCTOBER TERM, 1997

151

Per Curiam

NEW MEXICO ex rel. ORTIZ v. REED

on petition for writ of certiorari to the supreme
court of new mexico

No. 97–1217. Decided June 8, 1998

After Ohio ofﬁcials told respondent they planned to revoke his parole, he
ﬂed to New Mexico. That State’s Governor issued an extradition war-
rant, and respondent was arrested. A New Mexico trial court granted
him habeas relief on his claim that he was not a “fugitive” for extradition
purposes because he ﬂed under duress, believing that Ohio authorities
intended to revoke his parole without due process and to cause him
physical harm if he were returned to prison. The State Supreme
Court afﬁrmed.

Held: The Extradition Clause imposes a mandatory duty on the asylum
State, affording no discretion to its executive ofﬁcers or courts. Once
a Governor has granted extradition, a court considering release on ha-
beas can decide only whether (a) the documents on their face are in
order; (b) the petitioner has been charged with a crime in the demanding
State; (c) the petitioner is the person named in the extradition request;
and (d) the petitioner is a fugitive. Michigan v. Doran, 439 U. S. 282,
289. Claims relating to what actually happened in the demanding
State, the law of that State, and what may be expected to happen in
that State when the fugitive returns are issues to be decided by the
demanding State, not the asylum State. See Pacileo v. Walker, 449
U. S. 86, 88 (per curiam).

Certiorari granted; 124 N. M. 129, 947 P. 2d 86, reversed and remanded.

Per Curiam.

Respondent, sentenced to a term of 25 years upon convic-
tion of armed robbery and theft of drugs, was paroled from
the Ohio correctional system in 1992.
In the following year
Ohio prison ofﬁcials told respondent they planned to revoke
his parole status. Before the scheduled date of his meeting
with his parole ofﬁcer, respondent ﬂed from Ohio to New
Mexico.

Ohio sought extradition and the Governor of New Mexico
issued a warrant directing the extradition of respondent.
He was arrested in October 1994, and later that year sought