Although the US states are sovereign and responsible for individuals within their region, they should extradite offenders upon request, according to the US Constitution and Federal statute. Extradition is a legal process of the removal of a suspected or convicted criminal from a requested state to a receiving state for criminal punishment or trial. Article IV, Section II, Clause 2 of the US Constitution directly states:
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime (US Const. art. IV, § 2).
Herewith, the interstate extradition procedures are provided by Title 18, Sect. 3182 of the US Code (“Interstate extradition,” n.d.). In particular, under the statutory requirements, the Orange County prosecutor first should issue an extradition request to the state to which the accused has fled, that is, Arizona. The court of Arizona should conclude whether all documents are in order and confirm the warrant’s validity and that the wanted person is in custody. Then, Orange County should appear to obtain the fugitive within thirty days of arrest; otherwise, the prisoner will be discharged.
International extradition is a more complicated and time-consuming process requiring the involvement of federal departments, including the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA). Moreover, extradition can be executed if all requirements are met and the respective extradition treaty works. In the case of Brook, the Orange County prosecutor should first turn to the OIA that carefully reviews and approves the request, ensuring its legal sufficiency (Jeffress et al., 2020). Additionally, the OIA consults with the Department of State to gain confirmations on different issues, for instance, whether an extradition treaty between the USA and the recipient country is in force.
Then, OIA forwards the warrant to the Department of State which also reviews it for validity and gives its approval. The Justice Department can request temporal detention of Brook, which can be provided for a limited period, between 45 and 90 days (Jeffress et al., 2020). The next step is that the Department of State sends the request to the US embassy in Mexico to initiate extradition proceedings. In this regard, the request will be presented to the appropriate ministry in the form of a diplomatic note. Finally, once the requested government acknowledges the USA extradition demand, it will notify the United States. If the request is refused, OIA, together with the Department of State and other prosecutors, should seek additional variants for obtaining Brook, including deportation.
The writ of habeas corpus is a law recourse guaranteed by the Constitution, which defends individuals against unlawful imprisonment, detention, and arbitrary executive power. Translated from Latin, this phrase implies “show me the body” (Kim, 2017). Following habeas corpus, Solana can appeal to court so that this court demands a public official (a custodian or warden) to deliver the prisoner to court to detect whether the confinement is legal.
The court should consider the writ following Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 (Kim, 2017). The hearing on the matter can include the presentation of evidence concerning lawful or unlawful jailing of the person from both the inmate and the government. It is worth noting that habeas corpus varies from the right of direct appeal in that it gives a separate way for disputing imprisonment. If the detention has been proven unlawful, the court should release Solana or an order ceasing illegal confinement conditions.
References
Interstate extradition. (n.d.). USlegal. Web.
Jeffress, A., Witten, S., & Konkel K. (2020). International extradition: A guide to US and international practice. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. Web.
Kim, J. (2017). Habeas corpus. The Legal Information Institute. Web.
US Const. art. IV, § 2