The appellant in this case was wanted to stand trial in California for sexual offences. On 14 Aug 2017, pursuant to the Extradition Act 2003, District Judge Margot Coleman sent his case to the Secretary of State for her decision on whether he should be extradited. The respondent, the Government of the United States of America resisted the appeal. The appellant appeals with leave on three grounds:
i. the extradition proceedings are an abuse of process following the failure of earlier extradition proceedings;
ii. given the nature of the alleged offending, were the appellant convicted there is a risk that he would be subject to “civil commitment” at the end of his sentence, which would give rise to a flagrant denial of his rights guaranteed by article 5(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”). Assurances given by the Government that he will not be subject to that process are inadequate;
iii. there are substantial grounds for believing that, if convicted, he would be subjected to violence at the hands of other prisoners in the Californian penal estate, from which the authorities would be unable adequately to protect him. In the result his extradition would violate article 3 of the Convention.
The Court held that none of the grounds of appeal succeeded and the appeal against the decision to send the appellant’s case to the Secretary of State was dismissed.
Alex Bailin QC and Aaron Watkins were involved in this case.