HOW LONG SHOULD THE ARM OF THE LAW BE?

Extradition Is A Controversial Issue That Exposes The Differences
Between Legal Systems

Tina Howe and Maria Cooke wouldn't have looked suspicious as they
drove a blue minivan through the Sumas border crossing into Washington
state in June 2007.

But as the Dodge Caravan cruised down the I-5, its roof flew off and
landed on the freeway, "scattering thousands of ecstasy pills across
the road," U.S. court documents say.

"Washington state troopers quickly responded and discovered a pink and
blue haze of dust rising from the highway, which they later determined
was the result of cars smashing the ecstasy pills into the road."

It was just the beginning of a 21/2-year judicial odyssey for the
Metro Vancouver women, who were charged with several conspiracy drug
counts that could land them in prison for years.

Cooke went so far as to strike a plea agreement in which the U.S.
Attorney was requesting a reduced seven-year jail term. Then she
failed to return to Seattle for a sentencing hearing in December 2008.

Howe, the suspected instigator of the rookie smuggling attempt on
behalf of B.C. traffickers, missed her trial completely.

Now both women are on the long list of British Columbians who are the
subject of extradition requests from the United States.

In many cases these extraditions are stalled because the paperwork is
caught in government bureaucracies from Ottawa to Washington, D.C.
Other accused were released on bail in B.C. and refuse to turn
themselves in to foreign authorities. In at least one case, Canada is
not sending a man south because of a medical condition.

There are now 34 B.C. residents wanted by foreign police agencies,
mostly in the U.S.

The list does not include a rash of more recent indictments south of
the border, such as the one unsealed last month implicating suspected
B.C. traffickers Sean Doak, Colin Martin, James Cameron and Adam
Serrano in a multimillion-dollar helicopter smuggling ring.

There are also U.S. charges against United Nations gang members still
in Canada. And an outstanding indictment against Hells Angel Brian Lee
Hall, who was arrested on the extradition request in July 2008.

A question of where

Critics of the extradition process say Canadians should be charged in
their own country if there is evidence of crimes that involved
cross-border transactions.

Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon says he does believe
there is some "jurisdiction shopping" by law enforcement who want to
see criminals dealt with effectively in the courts.

"I think there is some truth to that, especially with regard to the
illegal drug trade. I think there are actually two issues that
probably drive the preference for United States prosecutions," he
said. "One I think is the perceived sentencing practices in the United
States and the other is more procedural -- there are lots of
impediments to a swift trial here."

Across Canada, there are 107 Canadians with extradition requests from
foreign states wanting to prosecute them on charges ranging from
murder to money laundering. Almost half the cases are drug charges,
with most of the requests coming from the United States.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Goddard, of the federal drug enforcement branch,
said police are not allowing Americans to take the lead in arresting
Canadians in cases such as the helicopter smuggling probe, dubbed
Operation Blade Runner.

"People get the impression that we are using U.S. law enforcement to
prosecute our cases and that is not true. Our evidentiary rules are
different. Our burden of proof is different. Our disclosure laws are
different," Goddard said.

"It is not that we don't contemplate charges here in Canada. It is
just that we investigate 'til we secure enough evidence or garner
enough evidence that we can proceed with charges here."

That can take a lot longer in Canada than it does in the U.S., he
said.

Evidence rules different

"The level of evidence we require to lay a charge up here is probably
much higher than it is in the United States."

Goddard stressed that he is not criticizing the American system,
simply pointing out that there are stark differences between the two
countries.

As a result, there are often parallel probes, like in Blade Runner,
where the Americans win the race to charge approval.

"Their rules of evidence are so much different that they can get their
cases -- such as those that were designed in Blade Runner -- before
the grand jury well before disclosure being done up here in Canada,"
Goddard explained. "If we have the evidence here, we will prosecute
the likes of Sean Doak and Colin Martin."

He said he does expect Canadian charges to be laid in the same
case.

"Those evidence packages will be forwarded to the Public Prosecution
Service of Canada," he said. "But our disclosure laws are somewhat
more cumbersome and it does take a lot longer mainly because of the
way our judicial system works. Whether it is good, bad or indifferent
is not for me to say. It is what it is and it is a longer process in
Canada than it is in the United States."

Charge approval is not the only process that is lengthy in Canada.
Extradition cases can linger for years. Last October, financial
fugitive Rakesh Saxena was extradited to Thailand after a Canadian
court battle that lasted more than 13 years.

And in January 2008, Vancouver gangster Ranjit Cheema lost his
last-ditch attempt to avoid extradition to the U.S. on drug charges
dating back a decade. The oldest request still on the books in Canada
is for Simon Raghoonanan, who Trinidad requested for extradition on
Jan. 18, 2001. Raghoonanan is charged in connection with the 1996
murder of a witness in a gang case.

B.C. case dates to 1999

In B.C., the longest-running case involves Robert and Terry Shull,
both wanted in Massachusetts since April 1999 on charges of
telemarketing fraud.

And then there is the case of Zalig Fester, charged in August 2005
with conspiring to import and distribute ecstasy into the U.S. through
the infamous tunnel burrowed under the border between B.C. and
Washington state.

Fester is in a B.C. jail serving a sentence of just under six years
for shooting his former girlfriend's new boyfriend in October 2005
after showing up at her house wearing a bulletproof vest with two
loaded guns. He hit the boyfriend in the ankle and pointed a gun at
his head, threatening to kill him.

"Fortunately, the police arrived at that moment," a 2008 B.C. Appeal
Court ruling said. "One officer pointed a gun at Mr. Fester's head,
and he surrendered."

The court refused to reduce Fester's sentence, noting the trial judge
had considered all of the issues he raised, including his Crohn's
disease "which makes incarceration more difficult for him."

That medical condition is what is holding up his extradition, which
was ordered by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Eric Rice last September.

"The latest inquiry was he has got health problems and the Canadians
were concerned we could not adequately deal with his health problems
here," said Asst. U.S. Attorney Doug Whalley, who is based in Seattle.
"So I am supposed to find out from the Bureau of Prisons if we can
handle him."

Whalley said the delays in processing extradition requests can also be
on the U.S. side.

"It is a relatively cumbersome process. I started doing as many as I
could two years ago because it got easier to do them if you did a lot.
I can start an extradition today and probably complete it in about a
month," he said.

The paperwork then goes to Washington, D.C., where it can sit for
another period of time. It then gets filed with the Canadian
government in Ottawa, before eventually coming back to the
jurisdiction in which the accused person is living.

If an extradition warrant is issued, Canadian authorities arrest the
person and the court process begins.

Whalley said he sometimes receives questions about evidence in a
case.

"How did they know it was marijuana? And who handled the drugs between
the time it was seized and the time it was sent to the lab? [These
are] things they consider important," he explained.

Most B.C. residents listed on extradition requests are wanted in
Whalley's jurisdiction -- Western Washington.

"I show about 15 where a completed packet has been sent to D.C.," he
said. "Some of those we have had reports back from the Canadians and
some of them we haven't. There are probably about three to four others
around the office that I don't know about, but I try to keep track of
them.

"The last three or four years, we have successfully returned about 17
defendants. Some surrendered once they were arrested on the
extradition package. Some surrendered while it was in the process and
some were extradited."

Some 'lured into' U.S.

Eastern Washington, where Blade Runner occurred and where both UN
associate Joe Curry and former Bacon associate Dustin Haugen are
wanted, has the next most requests for B.C. residents.

Curry was in B.C. Supreme Court again Friday as lawyer John Conroy
argued that the case against his client is too circumstantial to
warrant extradition. Conroy said in an interview that Canada is one of
the few countries that will ship citizens to foreign jurisdictions for
trials.

"Many, many countries will not extradite their nationals. They'll
charge people in their own country," he said. And he said there have
been examples of Canadians "who are lured into the U.S." where they
are arrested and prosecuted.

A number are also wanted in Central California, Thom Mrozek, spokesman
for the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles said in an interview.

Some of those are drug cases like that of Minh Tan Le, accused of a
role in an ecstasy ring operating up and down the west coast of North
America and in Australia.

On Feb. 5, 2009, B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke ordered Le
deported, saying the wiretap evidence obtained both by the Drug
Enforcement Administration and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement
Unit-B. C. showed Le worked with his cousin in the U.S. "to supply
drugs for distributors in California and to ship large quantities of
methamphetamine to Sydney, Australia."

Mrozek said that despite the B.C. court order, the U.S. Attorney's
office was told that Le, who was out on bail, did not turn himself in
to be surrendered to the Americans.

A lot of the California requests are telemarketing and fraud cases,
Mrozek said.

Whalley, the Assistant U.S. Attorney, says he understands why the
process takes a long time at the Canadian end.

"It is hard to blame the Canadian courts because what they are doing
is ordering a person out of the country to the United States so they
demand pretty tough evidence that it is a good case -- not a great
case -- but a case that is sufficient," he said.