Peter Morgan extradition hearing begins
Kaieteur News
April 27, 2007
The extradition hearing for Guyanese Peter Morgan got underway yesterday, with the defence attorneys requesting that Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicholls recuse himself from the hearing.
The defence team, comprising Ravi Rajcoomar and Rajiv Persad, cited bias and pointed to the close relationship between Magistrate McNicholls and the Attorney General, John Jeremie.
They argued that in the Basdeo Panday matter, the Chief Magistrate aligned himself with the Attorney General who is the lead prosecutor in the Morgan extradition hearing and who signed the documents for the extradition.
However, Chief Magistrate McNicholls dismissed the motion and proceeded with the hearing.
The State called two witnesses, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs who presented the extradition request for the United States authorities, and the policeman who effected the arrest at the Piarco International Airport .
Defence Counsel Rajcoomar described the witnesses as mere formalities and declined to cross examine. However, they challenged the documents submitted on behalf of the United States Government on the grounds that Trinidad law does not provide for the testimony of anonymous witnesses.
The document merely described the witnesses as Confidential Witnesses 1, 2 and 3.
Mr Rajcoomar said that under the law, the State is not allowed to take such witnesses into consideration.
Chief Magistrate McNicholls said that he would rule on the defence submissions when the hearing continues on Monday.
If the defence submissions are upheld, then there would be no grounds under which the hearing would continue and Morgan must be released.
Mr Rajcoomar said that it is unlikely that the hearing would go beyond Monday afternoon.
Peter Morgan was arrested by the Trinidad and Tobago police, on March 9, last, on a provisional arrest warrant issued by the United States Department of Justice.
According to the provisional warrant, Morgan was being prosecuted for conspiring with three people to distribute cocaine in the United States . The three were identified as David Narine; his wife, Susan Narine; and a Chinese national, Hung Fung Mar.
Narine and his wife were arrested with cocaine in the United States , and are currently being prosecuted.
When arrested, Morgan was returning to Guyana from Panama . He was in transit at Piarco International Airport with another Guyanese. They were preparing to leave the twin-island republic when two DEA agents and two law enforcement officers from Trinidad and Tobago detained them.
After perusing the documents, the officials allowed the other Guyanese to leave but detained Morgan.
Morgan's name was flagged after routine inspection of advance flight information, a feature that was put in place under the Sunset Legislation for Cricket World Cup 2007.
Morgan's continued detention is being facilitated by the treaty signed by the then Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday, and the then United States Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, in 1996. That treaty replaced the one that was entered into between Britain and the United States in 1931, and became a part of the Trinidad laws with independence in 1962.
Morgan is being held in the state penitentiary on Frederick Street , Port-of-Spain.