UK won't extradite sex offender accused of raping, molesting girls in US

[jimmy olsen]

Outrageous! Send in the drone assassins!

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/29/12475209-uk-wont-extradite-sex-offender-accused-of-raping-molesting-girls-in-us?chromedomain=usnews&lite

UK won't extradite sex offender accused of raping, molesting girls in US

Interpol via AP

Britain's High Court on Thursday blocked a U.S. bid to extradite Shawn Sullivan to Minnesota, saying the state's restrictive treatment program for sex offenders was too draconian.
By msnbc.com staff and news services

LONDON -- Minnesota prosecutors' efforts to have a convicted sexual predator brought to trial in the United States were thwarted on Thursday when Britain's High Court dropped extradition proceedings, saying the U.S. hadn't guaranteed the suspect would be kept out a program some deem draconian.

Shawn Sullivan, 43, is accused of molesting two girls and raping a third in the 1990s in Minnesota. Sullivan fled the United States and eventually ended up in London, where authorities caught up to him two years ago.

Judges Alan Moses and David Eady said in a ruling finalized Thursday that if Sullivan were returned to the U.S., he could face a real risk of being placed in the state's civil commitment program -- which provides for the indefinite detention of people found to be sexually dangerous -- and suffer "a flagrant denial of his rights."

'Slap in the face'
One of Sullivan's accusers called the decision "a slap in the face."

"That whole argument is just irrational," Jessica Schaefer, 29, told The Associated Press. Sullivan allegedly molested her and her cousin when they were both 11.

"It's just another loophole in the justice system that caters to the criminals. All they have to do is find a loophole or a technicality and they walk. ... "I feel like I'm just pleading for justice, and I'm not getting anywhere."

The AP does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent. The Minnesota women Sullivan is accused of attacking as children agreed to let the AP use their names.

Two Minnesota prosecutors in the counties where Sullivan faces charges defended their decision not to guarantee Sullivan would be kept out of the program, saying it was "not in the interests of public safety."

"I think it's way beyond reasonableness for them to interfere in how we conduct business," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

Irish conviction
Sullivan escaped to Ireland as prosecutors prepared to file charges, and while staying there was convicted of sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls. Sullivan, a dual U.S.-Irish citizen, moved to London using an Irish passport that spelled his last name in Gaelic as "O'Suilleabhain."

The British judges made clear in an earlier decision that they would have supported Sullivan's extradition had it not been for the sex treatment program, which they described as among the toughest in the U.S.

The program, which began in its current form in the mid-1990s, allows courts to commit a person for sex offender treatment if a judge decides the person is sexually psychopathic or sexually dangerous. As of April 1, 641 people were in Minnesota's program.

The program faces constitutional challenges by some who say it holds people indefinitely after their prison sentences. One 64-year-old man received a provisional discharge earlier this year when he was allowed to move into a Minneapolis-area halfway house. Only one other person was ever released from the program, and was soon taken back into custody on a violation.

The justices in London outlined a litany of concerns in their June 20 decision, noting offenders don't have to be mentally ill to be committed; their offenses don't have to be recent; and in some cases, they don't even have to have been convicted of a crime.

UK judge Moses said on Thursday that "the United States will not provide an assurance," thus allowing Sullivan's appeal, according to The Independent newspaper.

"The appellant will be discharged from the proceedings," the judge said, according to the paper.

'Open the floodgates'
Officials with the Minnesota Department of Human Services said they don't know of any instances where someone without a criminal conviction has been placed in the program, though they acknowledged it's theoretically possible.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who charged Sullivan with molesting the 11-year-old girls, said authorities hadn't decided whether to pursue civil commitment. However, he said making such a guarantee "could open the floodgates."

"It's a very slippery slope to go down once you start making agreements," Backstrom said.

Peter Wold, Sullivan's criminal defense attorney in Minnesota, said the British judges balked at the prospect of indefinite detention. "That offended them, and it should offend a lot of people, to have the prospect of people being committed with no end in sight," he said.

Human rights concerns periodically complicate efforts by U.S. prosecutors to extradite suspects. For example, European Union countries typically won't extradite suspects who could face capital punishment to the U.S. unless American prosecutors give assurances they won't seek the death penalty.

Still, Bruce Zagaris, a Washington, D.C.,-based attorney specializing in international criminal law, said this was one of the first cases he had seen in which the U.K. has said no to extradition.

"I think foreign courts no longer give us the benefit of the doubt," Zagaris said.

Sullivan still faces a civil case in Minnesota, and Michael Hall III, the attorney representing the three alleged victims, said he expects that to go forward. He said significant punitive damages are possible.

Sullivan's attorney in the civil case was out of the office Thursday and did not return a message.

Hannah Treziok, who was 14 when she says Sullivan raped her, said she was disappointed with the British court's ruling but that she had prepared herself for this possibility.

"The reality is, we, the victims, have for 18 years been fighting the good fight, and there is no shame in that," she said. "Even though it is not the exact outcome that we desired ... we brought him out of the shadows and exposed him for who and what he really is."

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

[Razgovory]

Well I suppose he can rape some British kids then.

Does the US extradite it's own citizens to other countries?  What about citizens of other countries that committed a crime in a third country?

[CountDeMoney]

You should expect nothing less from Euro courts these days.  Then again, sex offenses are rather trivial over there.

I hope he assfucks a shitload of little Brit kiddies and leaves their bungholes bleeding.  If he hasn't done so already.

[Martinus]

Dunno about the UK or the US but many EU countries are constitutionally prohibited against extraditing own citizens, period. But they also have jurisdiction on crimes committed by citizens abroad so that does not mean he will go free.

[Sheilbh]

What about European extradition orders?

[Martinus]

They are an exception and involved some constitutional wrangling e.g. in Poland.

[Ideologue]

Those civil commitment programs are pretty ridiculous, though.  There's no will to legislate a penalty of simple execution, but indefinite detention to remain tough on sexual predators is okay?  That's bullshit.

[CountDeMoney]

Those civil commitment programs are pretty ridiculous, though.  There's no will to legislate a penalty of simple execution, but indefinite detention to remain tough on sexual predators is okay?  That's bullshit.

Nothing else works with sexual predators, you know that.

[Ideologue]

Those civil commitment programs are pretty ridiculous, though.  There's no will to legislate a penalty of simple execution, but indefinite detention to remain tough on sexual predators is okay?  That's bullshit.

Nothing else works with sexual predators, you know that.

I beg to differ.  I don't think they're immortal.

[CountDeMoney]

Those civil commitment programs are pretty ridiculous, though.  There's no will to legislate a penalty of simple execution, but indefinite detention to remain tough on sexual predators is okay?  That's bullshit.

Nothing else works with sexual predators, you know that.

I beg to differ.  I don't think they're immortal.

Now, now, that would be cruel and unusual, Mr. That's Bullshit.

[Ideologue]

The death penalty is by no means unusual in the context of sex crimes, and is certainly less cruel than imprisonment without sentence.

[CountDeMoney]

The death penalty is by no means unusual in the context of sex crimes,

In addition to capital offenses, no.  But not by itself.  If that were the case, Marty would've been killed ages ago.

and is certainly less cruel than imprisonment without sentence.

Nothing cruel about imprisonment without sentence.  Look at Gitmo, they've got a basketball court.

[Iormlund]

Those civil commitment programs are pretty ridiculous, though.  There's no will to legislate a penalty of simple execution, but indefinite detention to remain tough on sexual predators is okay?  That's bullshit.

Nothing else works with sexual predators, you know that.

Mentally ill patients that are properly deemed dangerous can be locked up forever in Europe, so there has to be something else that spooked the Brit judges.

[CountDeMoney]

Mentally ill patients that are properly deemed dangerous can be locked up forever in Europe, so there has to be something else that spooked the Brit judges.

Mentally ill, yeah;  but as we all know, Europeans do not consider sexual predators as mentally ill.  Rape and assbanging children are Family Funtastic pasttimes over there.

[Ideologue]

In seriousness, I don't believe the USSC has ruled directly on the issue of whether death penalties for non-murder crimes are intrinsically unconstitutional (iirc, the successful attacks on the death penalty have involved due process, not the cruelty and unusualness of the punishment).

And I see no reason why they would be, except potentially under the reasoning from Trop in reference to an evolving standard of decency in regards to criminal penalties, as foolishly held by the basically retarded population of the United States, especially by my wrongheaded left-wing fellow travelers, who have not really considered the issue and think that an immediate execution following a fair trial is somehow much worse than sentencing a man to die over the course of forty years.