Opinion ID: 355100
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Renewal of Extradition Request

Text: 12 After the government's initial request for an order of extradition was denied by the magistrate, it filed a new complaint in extradition in an attempt to obtain a more favorable ruling. Appellant argues that where the government's first request has been denied following an extensive evidentiary hearing and full consideration of the merits of the case by an extradition court, the government should be barred from renewing the request on the same evidentiary facts. The law of international extradition long has recognized that the government is free to pursue extradition nonwithstanding initial unsuccessful efforts. In Collins v. Loisel (Loisel II ), 262 U.S. 426, 43 S.Ct. 618, 67 L.Ed. 1062 (1923), the Supreme Court acknowledged and affirmed the government's right to reinstitute extradition proceedings, noting that it has been consistently held under the treaties with Great Britain and other countries, that a fugitive from justice may be arrested in extradition proceedings a second time upon a new complaint charging the same crime, where he was discharged by the magistrate on the first complaint or the complaint was withdrawn. Id. at 429, 43 S.Ct. at 619. 4 Loisel II involved a renewed extradition request after an earlier order of extradition had been set aside on habeas corpus. In affirming the power of the government to pursue extradition more than once, the court recognized the potentiality for abuse in such authority, but observed that protection against unjustifiable vexation and harassment incident to repeated arrest for the same alleged crime must ordinarily be sought, not in constitutional limitations or treaty provisions, but in a high sense of responsibility on the part of the public officials charged with duties in this connection. Id. at 429-30, 43 S.Ct. at 619. It is clear, therefore, that constitutional considerations do not constitute a bar to reinstituted extradition proceedings and that relief from the abuse of multiple attempts to extradite lies not in judicial limitation, but rather with the fair-mindedness of the government in fulfilling its obligation under treaties of extradition. 13 The decisions of lower courts on the issue have been in accord with that expressed by the Supreme Court in Loisel II. In Ex parte Schorer, 195 F. 334 (E.D.Wis.1912), the court declared that it was the power and duty of the government to renew a request for extradition if it is convinced of the merits of its position. Similarly, in In re Kelly, 26 F. 852 (C.C.Minn.1886), the court noticed that it would be a violation of the spirit, if not of the letter, of the treaty, if there could be no second examination of a fugitive. Id. at 854. A more recent example of application of the rule is In re Gonzalez, 217 F.Supp. 717 (S.D.N.Y.1963), in which the government's first request for extradition was denied on the ground that the alleged act of the fugitive fell within the political crimes exception of the governing treaty. When the government chose to refile its request, the court assigned to the second proceeding rejected the argument that it was bound by the prior denial, citing for support the Loisel II decision. While no opinion of this Court expressly has approved the practice of reinstituted extradition requests, in Desmond v. Eggers, 18 F.2d 503 (9th Cir. 1927), this Court expressed no doubt that upon denial of an original extradition request, a second filing by the government was a permissible course of action. 14 Appellant does not contest the validity of these decisions, but rather attempts to distinguish them as cases in which reinstituted proceedings followed denial of extradition orders on procedural grounds, or cases in which second extradition requests were pursued on the basis of new evidentiary facts. 15 While in Loisel II dismissal of the first extradition order arguably was for reasons of procedural defects rather than on the strict merits, there is no indication the Court intended its holding to turn on this distinction. Indeed, the Court's clearly stated preference for government fair-mindedness over judicial constraints as a curb to abusive use of multiple extradition requests indicates that the Court was formulating a broad rule applicable to the entire practice of reinstituting extradition proceedings. Consequently, we construe Loisel II as holding that where the government in good faith determines that extradition is warranted, it is not barred from pursuing multiple extradition requests irrespective of whether earlier requests were denied on the merits or on procedural grounds.