Peter Watts: Post Verdict Thoughts and Observations

[uplinktruck]

Kennedy Space Center, FL - Peter Watt's was found guilty of assaulting US Customs and Border Protection officer Andrew Beaudry. He will be sentenced on April 26. There are a few loose ends that need tying up so let's get started.

The Port Huron paper was the only news organization that actually showed up in person to listen watch and report the

Comments

[ndgmtlcd]

Peter Watts is now in Canada. If a US court sentences him to any amount of time in prison in the US then he will be staying away from the US for the rest of his life. The chances of the US getting him extradited from Canbada are close to zero.

Peter Watts is not the first Canadian to be convicted of a felony in the U.S.. There are very strong, very practical bilateral US-Canada legal extradition procedures in addition to international laws.

The laws concerning bilateral US Canada extradition procedures for criminal actions have been overhauled in recent years, to make it easier for police forces on both sides to prevent members of the mafia (or bike gangs or violent groups with a political goal) from using border crossings as a shield. Civil rights groups in both the US and Canada have denounced these new accrods for giving too much discretionary powers to police in the US and Canada and not enough to the accused. On a practical basis everything is decided on a case by case and individual by individual basis, but with things like membership in criminal groups takne unoffcially in consideration.

In this case I doubt very much that the FBI, and the RCMP are going to consider a science fiction author as a dangerous menace to the US or to Canada.

Officially of course if the US does insist for extradition then the regular thing that happens is to go through an extradition procedure which amounts to a second trial, on Canadian soil. This might drag on for years. Or the RCMP might do something very legal (but immoral for civil rights specialists)by deciding to cancel the whole thing on a technicality, and tell Watts (not in writing) never to cross the border again because, seriously, they have bigger fish to fry.

[uplinktruck]

Hmmm... Do you have a source on what might happen if he fails to appear for his sentencing or, if he draws some time, fails to surrender to the Michigan penal system?

I ask because when this first came up it was suggested that Watts simply blow the whole thing off and never come to the United States again. I did some checking on that and discovered that the Canadian authorities would pick him up in a heart beat once the proper paper work is filed. This was from the US Marshall's Fugitive Unit.

I also found out that would add a federal charge to Watts' legal problems. It appears I didn't write down the exact charge, but it is in the same class of interstate flight to avoid prosecution.

Remembering the draft dodgers from the 1960s I checked further to verify that. The spokesperson at the RCMP informed me Canada has no tolerance for Canadian "bad actors" misbehaving in the US and then "running home to hide behind their mother country's skirt."

He further said that once the extradition request issued, that person would be immediately picked up. If the subject waived extradition, that person would be delivered to the border and turned over to US authorities. If that person wanted to fight extradition then a hearing regarding the merits of the charges would would be held and the determination be made by the court.

The RCMP spokesman added that in his 17 years of service he can only remember a hand full of cases where extradition was not granted back to the the United States. He said the entire process occurs often enough to be routine.

Keep in mind this was long before Watts' conviction. The merits of the charges have since been weighed and found valid by a jury.

[ndgmtlcd]

Yes, I've also read those opinions that Watts can always blow the whole thing off and never come to the US again. Though I think that the outcome will eventually be about the same I also think it's more complicated than that.

If the U.S. presses for extradition there will probably be an extradition hearing. It's routine, yes but it can drag out for years if the accused has good lawyers AND is not a member of a criminal organisation AND is not someone with a criminal past. The new accords giving a speeded up version apply only to persons with a criminal past and the like.

Remember that in the Canadian extradition hearing the accused is judged by standards of Canadian law and not of foreign laws. The merits of a charge in Canada are not the same as in a local foreign court, jury or not.

When the RCMP spokesperson said that a person would be immediately picked up he was talking from personal experience with run of the mill malefactors (small time or big time drug dealers and the sort) who are at a risk of cutting and running from a given Canadian jurisdiction, once they've fled there from the US. Indeed, in recent years the turnaround as been fast, given the new bilateral accords. Everyone stands to profit by keeping known criminals from running around in Canada while awaiting an outcome from an extradition trial. This is not the case with an established writer who actually wants everyone to find him because as a professional author he needs the publicity and probably has a press agent. You always know where to find him.

There is also the possibility, if Canada (alone or by request from the U.S., secretly) wishes to hush things up, that the Minister of Justice could refuse the request fir extradiion, given the large number of clauses he has at his disposal for such a refusal, even before the "routine" stage of hollding a trial.

The bilateral extradition accords are full of clauses for people like Watts, both before and during an extradition trial.

I think that this page makes it clear that there are many factors going against the issue of a provisional arrest warrant for somebody with no criminal past and the special circumstances of a completely flubbed exit search:

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/fps-sfp/fpd/ch41.html

In addition, a regular (not the speedy version made to mesure for drug dealers and their sort) Canadian extradition hearing verdict can be appealed, adding more years to the process.

This is the simplest summary of the process. The "Extradition partner" is the US in this case.

http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/images/ls320-e.gif

Then, there's this interesting summary from an Ontario criminal lawyer who seems to be a specialist in extradition cases:

http://www.yourbestdefence.com/extradition-hearing.htm

[uplinktruck]

Interesting reading and not entirely in line with, but not entirely in conflict with what I was told. It could all fit mainly because I didn't know the right questions to ask.

Peter's biggest problem with the Canadian extradition law and not being immediately arrested is going to be:
41.2.1 Factors that support seeking a provisional arrest warrant.

1. a basis to believe that the person may flee the jurisdiction or fail to appear in court if no arrest is made;

2. previous flight from another jurisdiction;

If he fails to appear for sentencing and/or fails to surrender to Michigan Department of Corrections if he draws time, number two is a lock and number one isn't looking real good either.

The question is where the discrepancy between what I was told by US and Canadian authorities and what I'm reading in your links. Perhaps what is written looks like it takes longer then it really does.

Maybe they were referring to only those cases that would be immediately arrested. Funny that neither one of them mentioned that.

Either that or not many get a pass on the arrest part. Only time will tell.