The US government in the case involving alleged narcotics trafficker, Guyanese Raffel Douglas, has admitted that an affidavit filed setting out the evidence supporting the charges against Douglas in a Trinidadian court contained several errors.
But the prosecution argued that “While any errors in any extradition affidavit are regrettable, the errors complained of by the defense were factual in nature, did not imperil his well-being, were made in good faith, and did not affect the substantial validity of the affidavit itself.”
The admission by the prosecution came in response to a motion asking that the indictment against Douglas be dismissed since his extradition from Trinidad to the US was based upon “materially false, insufficient and unreliable evidence.”
The accused is seeking to have all charges dropped against him since the Trinidadian court, which extradited him to the US, acted on false information and was not given the true nature of the case.
The motion, filed by the defendant earlier this month, argued that the fact he was denied his right to have a Trinidadian court fully and fairly review the evidence in support of the US’ request amounted to an unconstitutional deprivation of due process.
The motion said that the constitutional violation can be redressed only by ordering that Douglas be returned to Trinidad for a “full and fair hearing as contemplated by the countries’ treaties.”
However, even though the prosecution admitted that the affidavit in support of Douglas’s extradition contained “several errors” it still argues that the indictment should not be dismissed.
The prosecution said that the affidavit contained “several misstatements about the background of the informant who purchased the cocaine from Douglas,” and “the status of another trafficking investigation involving a shipment of cocaine seized at the JFK airport.”
Not withstanding this, the prosecution said it relies on a previous response it made in which it said it was not clear that the defendant has standing to raise the issue. It pointed out that the issue was previously discussed in other Second Circuit cases it cited and even though that court has never conclusively ruled on the issue of standing, it suggested that a defendant would not have the standing to rely on such defects in the extradition process. It was also noted that even if the district court deals with the issue on its merits, any mistakes were made in good faith, and the affidavit supporting extradition was more than sufficient to support extradition, even if the mistakes were redacted.
Further, the prosecution said it has long been the law that the court retains jurisdiction over a defendant who has been illegally returned to the jurisdiction of the court, which means that the court is generally not concerned with how the defendant came to be in the court, even if the defendant is forcibly returned to the court’s jurisdiction.
Douglas through his lawyers argued in the motion that the affidavit, if it had contained truthful allegations concerning the criminal record of the informant in the case, among other things, could have convinced the authorities in Trinidad to deny extradition.
It was pointed out that the two agents who had sworn to the affidavit contradicted one another with regard to key elements of the government’s extradition request, and resulted in material omissions and misrepresentations regarding Douglas’ alleged involvement in criminal activity, including the JFK seizure, the suppression of the criminal background of their sole informant, the falsehoods regarding the scope and breadth of the informant’s alleged prior cooperation with the government.
Among the issues that the prosecution failed to inform the court in Trinidad about was the fact that the informant had been convicted of a prior violent felony and falsely represented that the informant’s cooperation with US authorities “resulted in six successful cases, several drug seizures, and the indictment and conviction of several major drug traffickers,” and that he had “testified at trial, sworn to affidavits before federal judges, appeared before federal grand juries and his success rate has been 100%.”
However, at the time of that affidavit the informant had never testified at a trial, nor sworn to affidavits before any federal judges. In fact he had only testified in one grand jury proceeding and “at some kind of hearing in (Guadeloupe).” Even more “egregious” Douglas and his lawyer said was the fact that the prosecution failed to inform the Trinidad authorities that the informant had been a major narcotics distributor, himself, had participated in at least two homicides and weapon offenses, and had been paid approximately US$100,000.
Douglas is facing six drug-related charges in the US. It is alleged that between January 1999 and May 27, 2004, Douglas, also known as ‘Chrissie’ or ‘Chris’ along with Fredrick Hawkesworth, Terrence Sugrim and others conspired to distribute a substance containing cocaine knowing and intending for it to be imported into the US. The men were charged with violating Title 21 of the United States Code, Sections 959, 960, and 963.
During the said time the men also allegedly conspired to distribute a substance containing five kilogrammes of cocaine or more; while on March 30, 2004, in Barbados, Douglas and Hawkesworth intended to distribute 500 grammes or more of cocaine knowing it was intended for the US.
Count Four alleged that between January 1999 and May 27, 2004, the trio conspired to import five or more kilogrammes of cocaine into the US; while on December 11, 2003, Douglas allegedly used a telephone in facilitating the commission of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in New York. The last count alleged that on April 22, 2004, Douglas again used the telephone to conspire to traffic in narcotics.
An affidavit filed by US officials stated that they had taped conversations between Douglas and a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant and on two occasions when Douglas had promised to send cocaine to the US, empty black bags were sent. On both occasions these were pounced upon by DEA officials, the affidavit filed by DEA Special Agent Todd Meinken said, in support of an arrest warrant.
Douglas was extradited to the US from Trinidad where he had fled after an extradition request was made for him in Guyana.
Douglas was one of five men being sought for trafficking between Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia and the US.
The others named in a 2004 indictment are Hawkesworth, John Wayne Scantlebury, Sean Gaskin, and another Guyanese, Terrence Sugrim. It is alleged that they committed the crimes between the said dates and they were indicted in absentia on two counts in the US District Court (District of Columbia) on March 3, 2003.
Local police recently arrested Sugrim also known as ‘Harry Paul’, about two hours after US authorities indicated to authorities here that he was staying at a house in Parfait Harmonie. Police, in a statement, had said ranks conducted an operation at a house on Middle Dam, La Grange, West Coast Demerara, where the 42-year-old Sugrim was arrested. They said Sugrim was wanted on a provisional arrest warrant issued in Georgetown in a matter of request for extradition to the USA.
