Opinion ID: 603512
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: PROCEEDINGS RELATIVE TO THE EXTRADITION OF PETER G.J. McMULLEN

Text: 60 McMullen used a false Republic of Ireland passport to enter the United States in early 1978. He was arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on May 19, 1978 on the basis of his unlawful entry. While in the custody of the INS, McMullen made certain statements to INS investigators regarding his entry into this country, his membership in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), and his participation in a bombing attack at a British Army barracks in Belfast, Northern Ireland. McMullen also provided information to the authorities when he was interviewed by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and officials of the British police agency, New Scotland Yard. During that interview, he again admitted to his participation in the bombing attack at Belfast and also admitted planning and participating in a PIRA sponsored bombing attack at Claro Army Barracks at Ripon, England in 1974. 61 On June 20, 1978, a Justice of the Peace in Ripon, County of North Yorkshire, England, issued a warrant for McMullen's arrest on two counts of attempted murder and other crimes arising out of the bombing of the Claro Barracks. The United Kingdom thereafter filed a request for the extradition of McMullen to stand trial on the charges subject of the Ripon warrant. In July of 1978 the United States, on behalf of the United Kingdom, filed a formal request for McMullen's extradition. Deportation proceedings, previously commenced by the INS to deport McMullen for illegal entry into the United States, were held in abeyance pending the extradition proceeding. 62 Magistrate Judge Frederick J. Woelflen of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held a hearing on the extradition request. He found that McMullen was a member of the PIRA at the time of the Ripon bombing and that the PIRA was then engaged in a political uprising against the British. Because McMullen's crimes were committed at the behest of the PIRA and in furtherance of its political objectives, the Magistrate Judge concluded that the crimes in question were encompassed by the political offense exception of the 1977 Treaty. The Magistrate Judge therefore denied the extradition request. See 18 U.S.C. § 3185 (1988). 63 When the deportation hearings resumed, McMullen conceded that he was deportable on the ground of illegal entry but requested asylum in the United States or withholding of deportation to the Republic of Ireland, in accordance with the provisions of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158(a) and 1253(h). Both forms of relief were granted by an immigration judge, whose decision later was reversed by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Ninth Circuit held that the Board's decision was not supported by substantial evidence. See McMullen v. INS, 658 F.2d 1312 (9th Cir.1981). On remand, the Board again denied the application for asylum and withholding of deportation. On McMullen's second petition to the Ninth Circuit for review, the court agreed with the Board that McMullen was statutorily ineligible for withholding of deportation because there was substantial reason to believe that he had committed serious nonpolitical offenses. See McMullen v. INS, 788 F.2d 591, 598 (9th Cir.1986). The court further held that the Board properly had denied McMullen's application for asylum. See id. at 599-600. 64 On December 24, 1986, while McMullen was in New York en route to the Republic of Ireland pursuant to the order for his deportation, the United Kingdom requested that McMullen be extradited on the basis of the same 1978 warrant that had formed the basis for the earlier extradition request. A provisional arrest warrant was issued immediately, and the deportation was cancelled. On February 11, 1987, the United Kingdom filed a formal request for McMullen's extradition under the 1977 and Supplementary Extradition Treaties. 65 McMullen first moved to dismiss the second extradition warrant in August of 1987, contending that the statute of limitations barred his extradition for crimes committed in 1974. That motion was denied in June of 1988, when Magistrate Judge Kathleen Roberts held that McMullen's flight from the United States and his continued resistance to efforts to effect his return had tolled the statute. His second motion to dismiss the new extradition warrant was bottomed on constitutional claims: that the Supplementary Treaty as applied to him was a bill of attainder, an ex post facto law and a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers. McMullen also contended that his constitutional rights to due process were violated in the manner in which the government had proceeded against him. 66 In July of 1989, Magistrate Judge Roberts noted that she lacked jurisdiction to consider the constitutional issues raised by McMullen because she was sitting as an extradition magistrate under the authorization of 18 U.S.C. § 3184 rather than as a judicial officer within an Article III court. The parties agreed, whereupon McMullen filed the habeas corpus petition giving rise to these appeals, putting forth the same arguments presented on his second motion to Magistrate Judge Roberts for the dismissal of the extradition warrant. Although a petition for a writ of habeas corpus generally is not filed until extradition hearings are completed, see, e.g., Spatola v. United States, 925 F.2d 615 (2d Cir.1991); United States ex rel. Rauch v. Stockinger, 269 F.2d 681 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 913, 80 S.Ct. 257, 4 L.Ed.2d 183 (1959), the parties stipulated that the issues raised in this habeas petition should be resolved at an earlier stage on account of the need to determine whether the 1977 Treaty or the Supplementary Treaty would govern the McMullen extradition proceedings. 67 In concluding that the Supplementary Extradition Treaty was a bill of attainder as applied to McMullen, the district court found that McMullen was a target of the Supplementary Treaty, In re Extradition of McMullen, 769 F.Supp. at 1287, along with the two other PIRA members referred to in the Senate ratification debate, noting that the Senate's agenda was primarily the extradition of three individuals. Id. at 1287 n. 10. The district court accordingly found that the Supplementary Treaty imposed punishment upon McMullen under the functional and motivational tests discussed in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, supra. See id. at 1288-89. Finally, the district court determined that the punishment imposed upon McMullen was inflicted without the benefit of meaningful judicial processes in that the ratification of the Supplementary Treaty accomplished the punishment of McMullen without the benefit of a judicial trial. See id. at 1290. 68 The parties have stipulated to a stay of the writ pending appeal. The decision of the district court was affirmed by a divided panel of this Court on January 7, 1992. See McMullen v. United States, 953 F.2d 761 (2d Cir.1992). We ordered rehearing in banc by order dated June 5, 1992 and the rehearing was held on September 15, 1992. McMullen has remained in the custody of the United States Marshals Service since December 24, 1986. 69