Opinion ID: 555443
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Riviere's Rights under the Extradition Treaty

Text: 44 Riviere contends that his extradition violated the rule of specialty provided in the treaty because he was charged with crimes for which he was not surrendered. Riviere also argues that his prosecution on the firearms charges violated the double jeopardy provision of the treaty because he had previously pleaded guilty to the firearms violations in Dominica. He further contends that it was a sham to extradite him for an offense involving three grams of marijuana because the United States government knew that the offense was not a basis for extradition. Additionally, he asserts that the Dominican prosecutor would not have been able to prove importation of marijuana; rather, he would at best be able to prove the lesser offense of possession carrying a six-month penalty and which, under the extradition treaty, is not specifically included as an extraditable offense and which does not carry a sufficient penalty under Article III(a) of the treaty to constitute an extraditable offense (the dual criminality provision). Furthermore, he asserts that his conviction on the firearms offenses denied him due process of law. 45 The government contends that Riviere seeks to assert rights possessed only by Dominica as a party to the treaty. The government therefore contends that inasmuch as Dominica expressly waived any right of objection and protest, Riviere cannot assert rights under the treaty. 10 46 We conclude that Riviere cannot assert rights under the treaty in light of the express waiver of the Commonwealth of Dominica. It therefore follows that his conviction on the firearms offenses does not violate the rule of specialty or any other rights which Riviere is asserting under the treaty. We further hold that his extradition for the marijuana offense was not a sham and that he was not denied due process of law.
47 The rule of specialty in the treaty provides that a person extradited shall not be detained or proceeded against in the territory of the requesting Party for any offense other than an extraditable offense established by the facts in respect of which his extradition has been granted until he has returned to the territory of the requested party or for 30 days is free to do so. App. at 193. The Supreme Court acknowledged the right of a person extradited pursuant to a treaty to invoke the rule of specialty to avoid prosecution in United States v. Rauscher, 119 U.S. 407, 7 S.Ct. 234, 30 L.Ed. 425 (1886), a case before it on a certificate of division of opinion between the circuit judges when the defendant, Rauscher, moved to arrest the judgment following his conviction. The Court there held that: 48 a person who has been brought within the jurisdiction of the court by virtue of proceedings under an extradition treaty, can only be tried for one of the offences described in that treaty, and for the offence with which he is charged in the proceedings for his extradition, until a reasonable time and opportunity have been given him, after his release or trial upon such charge, to return to the country from whose asylum he had be forcibly taken under those proceedings. 49 Id. at 430, 7 S.Ct. at 246. 50 The government of Great Britain had surrendered Rauscher on a charge of murder; the United States, however, instead tried him on charges of cruel and unusual punishment of a seaman. Id. at 410, 7 S.Ct. at 235. Although Great Britain did not specifically object to Rauscher's trial on these charges, it had previously refused to surrender a fugitive within its borders absent a guarantee from the United States that he would not be charged with crimes other than the offense for which he was being extradited, thus suggesting that it adhered to the rule of specialty that the prosecution must be confined to the offense for which the defendant is extradited. Id. at 415, 7 S.Ct. at 238. Furthermore, Great Britain did not expressly waive its right under the treaty to object to Rauscher's prosecution for the cruel and unusual punishment offense. 51 The Court explained that in the United States under the Constitution, a treaty is the law of the land equivalent to an act of the legislature, as distinguished from other countries in which a treaty is merely a contract between nations. Id. at 418, 7 S.Ct. at 239-40. Much of the opinion suggests that the rights described in the treaty are conferred upon individuals rather than the government. For example, the Court stated: 52 '[A] treaty may also contain provisions which confer certain rights upon the citizens or subjects of one of the nations residing in the territorial limits of the other, which partake of the nature of municipal law, and which are capable of enforcement as between private parties in the courts of the country.... The Constitution of the United States places such provisions as these in the same category as other laws of Congress.... A treaty, then, is the law of the land, as an act of Congress is, whenever its provisions prescribe a rule by which the rights of the private citizen or subject may be determined. And when such rights are of a nature to be enforced in a court of justice, that court resorts to the treaty for a rule of decision for the case before it as it would to a statute.'Id. at 418-19, 7 S.Ct. at 240 (emphasis added) (quoting Edye v. Robertson (Head Money Cases), 112 U.S. 580, 598-99, 5 S.Ct. 247, 254, 28 L.Ed. 798 (1884)). 53 In discussing the rule of specialty, the Court also stated it is conclusive upon the judiciary of the right conferred upon persons brought from a foreign country into this under such proceedings. 119 U.S. at 424, 7 S.Ct. at 243 (emphasis added). Thus, Rauscher could not be prosecuted for an offense for which he had not been extradited. 54 On the same day that it decided Rauscher, the Court released its opinion in Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 436, 438, 7 S.Ct. 225, 229, 30 L.Ed. 421 (1886), holding that a defendant kidnapped in Peru and forcibly removed to the United States could be tried in a state court for larceny without a violation of his due process rights. While there was an extradition treaty between Peru and the United States, it was not a bar to the prosecution because the kidnapper did not proceed under it or use it as a pretext for arrest, and did not proceed under any pretense of authority from the United States. Id. at 442-43, 7 S.Ct. at 229. The Ker Court explained that mere irregularities in the manner in which the defendant was brought into custody did not entitle him to avoid trial. Id. at 440, 7 S.Ct. at 227. The Court distinguished Rauscher because in that case the party was duly surrendered by the asylum country under proper proceedings; therefore, [o]ne of the rights with which [Rauscher] was thus clothed, both in regard to himself and in good faith to the country which had sent him here, was, that he should be tried for no other offence than the one for which he was delivered under the extradition proceedings. Id. at 443, 7 S.Ct. at 229. 55 In harmony with Ker, the Court in Frisbie v. Collins, 342 U.S. 519, 522, 72 S.Ct. 509, 511, 96 L.Ed. 541 (1952), later held that a defendant abducted from one state to another could not avoid prosecution on due process grounds. The courts of appeals have continued to apply the principles of Ker and Frisbie, which are referred to as the Ker-Frisbie doctrine. See United States v. Zabaneh, 837 F.2d 1249, 1261 (5th Cir.1988); United States v. Valot, 625 F.2d 308, 309 (9th Cir.1980); United States v. Herrera, 504 F.2d 859, 860 (5th Cir.1974); United States v. Cotten, 471 F.2d 744, 748-49 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 411 U.S. 936, 93 S.Ct. 1913, 36 L.Ed.2d 396 (1973); United States v. Vicars, 467 F.2d 452, 455 (5th Cir.1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 967, 93 S.Ct. 1451, 35 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973); United States v. Hamilton, 460 F.2d 1270, 1270 (9th Cir.1972). 11 56 Notwithstanding the broad language in Rauscher, seemingly protective of extradited defendants, many courts of appeals in cases in which the asylum nation has expressly or impliedly waived rights under an extradition treaty have determined that an individual cannot avoid prosecution by asserting individual rights under the treaty. In Fiocconi v. United States, 462 F.2d 475 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1059, 93 S.Ct. 552, 34 L.Ed.2d 511 (1972), the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus where the defendants were extradited based on their indictment in the District Court for the District of Massachusetts for conspiracy to import heroin, but were later indicted in the District Court for the Southern District of New York for receiving 37 kilograms of heroin. The United States Embassy in Rome requested extradition after the defendants were arrested by Italian authorities, even though narcotics crimes were not listed in the Extradition Convention between the two countries. Id. at 476. Significantly, however, the convention did not prohibit extradition on narcotics charges and the crimes for which the defendants were indicted in Massachusetts were also criminal offenses under Italian law. Id. at 476-77. After a hearing, a Florence court directed the defendants' extradition so that they can be subjected to judgment according to the writ of indictment against them formulated by the Grand Jury of the District Court of Appeals of Massachusetts (sic). Id. The Massachusetts district court released the defendants on bail at which point they were subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in the District Court for the Southern District of New York. When they appeared, they were arrested pursuant to an indictment for receiving 37 kilograms of heroin in the Southern District of New York. Id. The United States subsequently asked the Italian court to broaden the extradition order to include the New York charges; however, no response was received from the Italian government. Id. 57 The Fiocconi court explained that the Rauscher rule was designed to prevent the United States from violating its international obligations; therefore, it was essential to determine whether the asylum nation would consider the United States' prosecution of the New York indictment as a breach of the treaty. Id. at 480. The court concluded that Italy probably would not have objected had a superseding indictment for other narcotics offenses been filed in Massachusetts; therefore, the fact that a court in New York filed that indictment was a technical refinement of local law, that is, venue, with which Italy was not concerned. Id. at 481. The court also interpreted the convention's provision that the person surrendered shall in no case be tried for any ... crime, committed previously to that for which his ... surrender is asked.... as an acquiescence in the prosecution of crimes committed after the commission of the extraditable offense but before the surrender, and thus not in breach of the treaty. Id. at 481-82 (emphasis added). 58 The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reached a like result in United States v. Najohn, 785 F.2d 1420, 1422 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1009, 107 S.Ct. 652, 93 L.Ed.2d 707 (1986). In Najohn, the court affirmed the district court's denial of a motion to dismiss where the defendant was extradited under a treaty from Switzerland for an indictment on interstate transportation of stolen property in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and later indicted in the District Court for the Northern District of California for the same offense, presumably on another occasion, as well as receiving stolen property and conspiracy. 785 F.2d at 1422. The Najohn court stated that the requesting country must live up to the promises it made to the asylum country to obtain extradition because surrender required the cooperation of the asylum state. Id. According to the court, protection under the rule of specialty exists only to the extent of the surrendering country's wishes because the primary concern is satisfaction of the requesting country's obligations. Id. The court continued that the defendant could raise whatever objection the surrendering country might raise; however, he could be tried for other crimes if the asylum country consented. Id. (citing Berenguer v. Vance, 473 F.Supp. 1195, 1197 (D.D.C.1979)). Thus, as the Swiss Embassy to the United States had sent a letter to the United States agreeing that the principle of specialty was suspended in that case, the court concluded that Switzerland had consented to prosecution on other crimes. 785 F.2d at 1422. 59 In United States v. Diwan, 864 F.2d 715, 721 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 3249, 106 L.Ed.2d 595 (1989), the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the extradited individual could only assert objections to prosecutions that Great Britain, the asylum nation, might consider a breach of the applicable treaty. Therefore, notwithstanding the defendant's extradition on theft-related offenses, in light of Great Britain's express consent, she could be tried for conspiracy to persuade a minor into sexually explicit conduct. 12 864 F.2d at 721 (citing Fiocconi, 462 F.2d at 482; Najohn, 785 F.2d at 1422; Greene v. United States, 154 F. 401 (5th Cir.) (offenses charged in indictment plainly charge identical offenses for which defendants extradited), cert. denied, 207 U.S. 596, 28 S.Ct. 261, 52 L.Ed. 357 (1907)). The Diwan court explained that the rule of specialty was designed to preserve international relationships and to protect the institution of extradition. 864 F.2d at 720 (citing Najohn, 785 F.2d at 1422). The court continued that the objective of Rauscher was to insure that the contracting nations faithfully observed the treaty; therefore, the defendant's rights under the treaty were derivative. 864 F.2d at 721. Because Great Britain's Secretary of State for the Home Office, who had the ultimate authority to determine whether extradition would be allowed, confirmed that Great Britain did not object to Diwan's prosecution on all 19 counts of the indictment, the court rejected her argument that the rule of specialty barred her prosecution on non-theft offenses. Id. 60 We are convinced that the courts of appeals in Fiocconi, Najohn, and Diwan reached the proper result. However, rather than relying on the consent language of these opinions, we focus on the sovereignty of a nation to control its borders and to enforce its treaties. 61 Rauscher, of course, is clearly distinguishable from this case because there the asylum nation, Great Britain, unlike Dominica here, did not consent to the defendant's prosecution on charges other than those for which he was extradited. Thus, even in the absence of any indication that Great Britain objected to Rauscher's prosecution, the Court concluded that Rauscher could raise the specialty objection if the United States failed to meet its obligations under the treaty. However, despite its extensive discussion about individual rights, Rauscher does not discuss the right of an individual to assert objections when the asylum nation expressly waives its right to enforce the treaty as written. 62 This factual distinction between Rauscher and the instant case informs our result. As a sovereign nation, Dominica has certain powers over fugitives within its territory. According to Ker v. Illinois, an individual is not entitled to asylum on demand in the country to which he or she flees; rather, the government in that country has the power to grant asylum. 119 U.S. at 442, 7 S.Ct. at 228. The extradition treaty limits the right of Dominica to grant asylum by defining the procedure and circumstances under which Dominica must surrender that individual. Id. Nonetheless, a nation may expel a fugitive within its borders without a request from the nation seeking the fugitive. Stevenson v. United States, 381 F.2d 142, 144 (9th Cir.1967) (immigration authorities may expel fugitives as undesirable aliens without implicating extradition treaty). Furthermore, a country may act outside an extradition treaty as a matter of international comity. Factor v. Laubenheimer, 290 U.S. 276, 287, 54 S.Ct. 191, 193, 78 L.Ed. 315 (1933) (government may voluntarily exercise power to surrender fugitive). Thus, a nation may surrender fugitives accused of crimes not named in the treaty. Ex parte Foss, 102 Cal. 347, 351-52, 36 P. 669, 670 (1894) (defendant surrendered by Government of Hawaiian Islands for trial on embezzlement which was not enumerated in applicable treaty). 63 While a treaty limits a nation's discretion to grant asylum, it does not change its power to deny asylum. When a nation waives its right to enforce extradition treaty provisions, it essentially refuses to grant asylum to the fugitive for the offense involved. Inasmuch as Dominica expressly waived its rights under the treaty to object to this country's proceedings after extradition, it effectively expressed its intention that it would not grant asylum to Riviere for any offense for which the United States intended to prosecute him, an act completely within Dominica's discretion as a sovereign nation. 13 64 Dominica's waiver of objection to Riviere's trial on matters outside the scope of the extradition order was a voluntary surrender, not required by the treaty, but recognized as a matter of international comity. Prior to extradition treaties, there was no well-defined obligation for one country to surrender fugitives to another; rather, surrenders were made upon the principle of comity and at the discretion of the government whose action was sought. Rauscher, 119 U.S. at 412, 7 S.Ct. at 236. While extradition treaties define circumstances in which an asylum country must surrender a fugitive, they by no means limit a country's power to surrender fugitives under other circumstances, such as for crimes not listed in the treaty. By its waiver, Dominica has exercised its power to surrender Riviere as a matter of comity for charges not listed in the extradition order; Riviere has no basis for objection to its actions. Additionally, because the surrender was outside the treaty, Riviere cannot invoke its provisions to avoid prosecution. In effect, therefore, Riviere was surrendered on two bases; under the treaty for the marijuana offense and as a matter of comity for the firearms offenses. 14 65 We further reject Riviere's reliance on Rauscher because Ker teaches that the mere existence of a treaty does not create individual rights in fugitives found within the borders of a party nation. Ker, 119 U.S. at 442, 7 S.Ct. at 228. If extradition treaties conferred individual rights, as Riviere suggests, Ker would have had the right to invoke the treaty's provisions to avoid prosecution. The Supreme Court determined that he did not have this right independently of the Peruvian government. Id. 66 In sum, we conclude that in light of the Dominican waiver, Riviere had no right under the treaty to return to Dominica at the conclusion of his case on the offense for which he was extradited before the disposition of the other charges. Our result, of course, does not emasculate the rule of specialty in the treaty because it still restricts the conduct of requesting nations when the asylum country invokes its rights under the treaty. 15 67
68 In addition to his specialty contention, Riviere relies on the double jeopardy and dual criminality provisions of the treaty as well as his due process rights as bars to his prosecution on the firearms offenses. Furthermore, he asserts that his extradition for the marijuana offense was a sham. US-UK Treaty, Art. V(1)(a), 28 T.I.A.S. at 230 (App. at 192); id. Art. III(1)(a) at 229. App. at 191. The double jeopardy provision provides that extradition shall not be granted if the person to be extradited, if proceeded against in the territory of the requested party for the offense for which his extradition is requested, would be entitled to be discharged on the grounds of a previous acquittal or conviction in the territory of the requesting or requested Party or of a third State. The dual criminality provision sets forth that extradition shall be granted for an offense punishable under the laws of both parties by imprisonment or other form of detention for more than one year or by the death penalty. 69 In Dominica, Riviere pleaded guilty to (1) possession of narcotics (3 grams of marijuana); (2) possession of ammunition; (3) possession of a firearm; (4) possession of prohibited firearms; (5) failure to declare; and (6) importation of arms and ammunition. App. at 249. We, however, see no need to make an analysis of Dominican law to ascertain whether Riviere, after his guilty plea in Dominica, could have asserted a double jeopardy defense in Dominica if that country sought to prosecute him for the matters involving firearms in Information No. 89-41. 16 We reach this conclusion because there is no reason to limit the waiver by the Dominican Attorney General to the rule of specialty as the waiver was open-ended without an exclusion for the double jeopardy provision of the treaty. Thus, the comity principles we have already discussed are as applicable to the double jeopardy contention as they are to the specialty argument. 70 We note that Riviere does not seem to assert a double jeopardy argument under the Fifth Amendment independently of the treaty. Of course, even if he is asserting such a contention, it would be without merit, for it is well established that separate sovereigns may prosecute for the same act without violating double jeopardy protections. United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 317-18, 98 S.Ct. 1079, 1082, 55 L.Ed.2d 303 (1978) (Indian tribes are sovereigns such that a defendant may be prosecuted by both federal government and Navaho tribe for multiple crimes arising out of one act); Bartkus v. Illinois, 359 U.S. 121, 139, 79 S.Ct. 676, 686, 3 L.Ed.2d 684 (1959) (state's prosecution of a defendant after acquittal on a federal indictment for substantially identical facts does not violate due process clause). 17 See also United States v. Pungitore, 910 F.2d 1084, 1105-07 (3d Cir.1990). 71 Riviere possessed the weapons and ammunition as well as the marijuana in different jurisdictions which each prosecuted him for violations of its own statutes. While the statutes may overlap in content, prosecutions under the laws of separate sovereigns do not, in the language of the Fifth Amendment, 'subject [the defendant] for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy.'  Wheeler, 435 U.S. at 317, 98 S.Ct. at 1083. See also Chua Han Mow v. United States, 730 F.2d 1308, 1313 (9th Cir.1984). 72 We also reject Riviere's dual criminality claim. Initially in this regard we point out that we see no reason why the waiver by the Attorney General does not foreclose this issue, just as it does the specialty and double jeopardy contentions. We can conceive of no good reason why, if an asylum country extradites a requested person for a criminal act in the requesting state and voluntarily waives any limits on his prosecution, he cannot be prosecuted when returned to the requesting state regardless of the law of the asylum country. 73 In any event, even on a substantive basis, there is no merit to the dual criminality claim. The extraditable offenses were departing the United States by aircraft in possession of marijuana, prohibited in this country under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 955, and exportation of marijuana, prohibited in this country under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 953. 18 The rule of double criminality does not require that the elements, purposes, or punishment for foreign offenses be identical to ours. Rather, it requires that the acts charged be proscribed in each nation. Collins v. Loisel, 259 U.S. 309, 312, 42 S.Ct. 469, 470-71, 66 L.Ed. 956 (1922) (not necessary that offense have same name in each country or that scope of liability be coextensive); Wright v. Henkel, 190 U.S. 40, 58, 23 S.Ct. 781, 783, 47 L.Ed. 948 (1903) (absolute identity of crimes not required; sufficient where essential character of conduct is same and criminal in each nation); Brauch v. Raiche, 618 F.2d 843, 851 (1st Cir.1980) (offenses of two countries must be substantially analogous). The crimes enumerated in 21 U.S.C. Secs. 953, 955 are recognized as offenses under Dominican law, which proscribes mere possession of three grams of marijuana. Commonwealth of Dominica Narcotics Control Act of 1969, Act No. 23, Sec. 3 (as amended Apr. 28, 1980). Thus, there was no violation of the dual criminality principle here. 74 We reject Riviere's contention that his prosecution on the firearms offenses violated due process. The 'due process of law' here guaranteed is complied with when the party is regularly indicted by the proper grand jury in the state court, has a trial according to the forms and modes prescribed for such trials, and when, in that trial and proceedings, he is deprived of no rights to which he is lawfully entitled. Ker, 119 U.S. at 440, 7 S.Ct. at 227. Riviere has not contended that his charging upon information or the proceedings in the District Court of the Virgin Islands suffered any defect other than those related to his extradition and we can conceive of none. Furthermore, the US-UK Treaty specifically provides for provisional arrest for up to 45 days on an application properly made through diplomatic channels. US-UK Treaty, Art. VIII. Thus, Riviere's detention until April 10, 1989, was authorized by the treaty, even though the information against him was not filed until that day. 75 Finally, we also reject Riviere's argument that the United States perpetrated a sham on the government of Dominica by seeking his extradition on the marijuana offense as a ruse for prosecuting him for firearms offenses. The marijuana offense was real. In any event, there is no reason in the record to believe that Dominica would have refused his extradition on the firearms offenses. In fact, Domenica waived any treaty limitation on Riviere's prosecution and apparently was perfectly willing to see him depart. 19 76