Opinion ID: 149697
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Violation of the Extradition Treaty

Text: Seeking to come within the first Ker/Frisbie exception, Struckman maintains that he was taken from Panama to the United States in violation of the extradition treaty between the United States and Panama, and that dismissal is therefore required. See Providing for the Extradition of Criminals, U.S.-Pan., May 25, 1904, 34 Stat. 2851 (Extradition Treaty). We do not agree. The U.S. government was indisputably involved in efforts to convince Panamanian authorities to deport Struckman and facilitate his return. But persuasion and cooperation do not necessarily add up to extradition. Neither deportation nor surrender other than in response to a demand pursuant to Treaty constitutes extradition. Oen Yin-Choy v. Robinson, 858 F.2d 1400, 1404 (9th Cir.1988). Nations may in practice alter the process for extradition requests, but [w]hile the formalities of extradition may be waived. . ., a demand in some form by the one country upon the other is required, in order to distinguish extradition from the unilateral act of one country, for its own purposes, deporting or otherwise unilaterally removing unwelcome aliens. Stevenson v. United States, 381 F.2d 142, 144 (9th Cir.1967) (internal citation omitted); see also MICHAEL ABBELL, EXTRADITION TO AND FROM THE UNITED STATES § 7-2(2)-(4) (2008) (describing alternatives to extradition of criminal defendants, such as a request by the United States to another country for formal or informal deportation or, for U.S. citizens, passport revocation). The government did not demand Struckman's surrender pursuant to the Extradition Treaty; indeed, the record reveals that the government went to great lengths to avoid doing so. [5] Moreover, the Panamanian government in its Resolutions expressly relied on its own interests in deporting Struckman, not its responsibilities under the Extradition Treaty. As Struckman was not extradited, his argument that his extradition was not in compliance with the procedures set forth in the treaty fails. Although Struckman was not extradited, his transfer to the United States could still be prohibited by the Extradition Treaty, see United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655, 662, 112 S.Ct. 2188, 119 L.Ed.2d 441 (1992), if, for example, the Extradition Treaty made extradition the exclusive means to effect the cooperative transfer of a criminal defendant. In considering whether that was so here, we begin by looking to the Extradition Treaty's express terms. See Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. at 663, 112 S.Ct. 2188. As in Alvarez-Machain, the Extradition Treaty does not provide that extradition is the exclusive means for one signatory to obtain a criminal defendant or fugitive from the territory of the other. [6] Compare Providing for the Extradition of Criminals, U.S.-Pan., May 25, 1904, 34 Stat. 2851, with Extradition Treaty, May 4, 1978, U.S.-Mex., 31 U.S.T. 5059. In the Treaty with Panama, the signatories agree to deliver up persons who, having been charged with or convicted of any of the crimes and offenses specified in [the Extradition Treaty] . . . shall seek . . . asylum or be found within the territories of the other. See Providing for the Extradition of Criminals, U.S.-Pan., art. I, May 25, 1904, 34 Stat. 2851. But what the countries are required to do when one signatory invokes the Treaty does not limit what they may agree to do cooperatively. Nowhere does the Treaty curtail the prerogative of Panama to deport U.S. citizens, nor does it bar[] the signatories from informally cooperating with each other as they did in this case. United States v. Mejia, 448 F.3d 436, 443 (D.C.Cir.2006), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1137, 127 S.Ct. 989, 166 L.Ed.2d 747 (2007). [7] We hold that the Treaty does not prohibit the use of means other than extradition to obtain a defendant's presence in the United States and did not bar Struckman's transfer to the United States. In so doing, we join all other circuits to have considered this issue concerning the reach of the Extradition Treaty with Panama. See Mejia, 448 F.3d at 443; United States v. Noriega, 117 F.3d 1206, 1213 (11th Cir. 1997); United States v. Cordero, 668 F.2d 32, 37-38 (1st Cir.1981).