Worldwide points in prison legislation: Extradition of El Chapo and extraterritoriality in Nigeria

Petitions of the week

This week we spotlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court docket to think about, amongst different issues, whether or not defendants have standing to claim violations of an extradition treaty and whether or not the wire fraud statute applies extraterritorially to succeed in a defendant’s conduct dedicated solely in Nigeria.

El Chapo seeks standing to argue that his trial violated the extradition treaty with Mexico

Guzman Loera v. United States is a petition introduced by Joaquin Guzman Loera, higher often known as El Chapo, the previous chief of a Mexican drug cartel who’s serving a life sentence in Colorado. He asks the justices to permit him to claim violations of an extradition treaty. Guzman Loera doesn’t contest the proof that contributed to his conviction for his position within the Sinaloa Cartel. As a substitute, he claims that his trial within the U.S. District Court docket for the Jap District of New York violated the extradition treaty between the US and Mexico. Based on Guzman Loera, Mexico initially extradited him to Texas and California to face adjustments there. After the federal government moved him to Brooklyn, Guzman Loera maintains, the US fraudulently obtained Mexico’s waiver for that trial.

The district courtroom dismissed his declare, ruling that Guzman Loera lacked standing as a result of treaties create rights and duties solely between the sovereign nations. The U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed, reasoning as properly that, even when a defendant may generally elevate a declare below the treaty, Mexico had in truth consented to this trial (ignoring, Guzman Loera insists, his allegation that Mexico’s consent was fraudulently obtained). In his petition, Guzman Loera asserts a 4-4 circuit cut up on this concern. Elevating a second query, Guzman Loera additionally asks the justices whether or not his pretrial restraints, together with solitary confinement and restricted communication, have been so “extreme and punitive” as to violate his constitutional rights.

A Nigerian defendant challenges conviction for wire fraud for conduct dedicated solely in Lagos

Ojedokun v. United States presents the justices with a problem in regards to the extraterritorial utility of a federal statute. In 2021, a federal jury convicted Seun Banjo Ojedokun of wire fraud for sending emails containing wire switch paperwork at a cyber-café in Lagos, Nigeria. On the time (2013-2015), Ojedokun insists, he had by no means traveled to the US and didn’t take part in phone or digital conferences with conspirators in the US. The FBI solely arrested Ojedokun in 2019, two years after he got here to the US to pursue a doctorate in chemistry. The U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected Ojedokun’s argument that the wire fraud statute didn’t apply extraterritorially to his conduct. One other provision within the wire fraud statute permits for extraterritorial utility if “within the case of a non-United States citizen, the conduct happens partially in the US.” To the 4th Circuit, this provision was glad as a result of, no matter the place Ojedokun’s conduct occurred, a part of the conspiracy occurred in the US. In his petition, Ojedokun argues that the 4th Circuit’s strategy violates the Supreme Court docket’s “clear assertion” check for extraterritoriality. He additionally maintains that the decrease courts are cut up on how the federal government can rebut the presumption in opposition to extraterritoriality.

These and different petitions of the week are under:

Tat v. United States
21-1352
Challenge: Whether or not plain-error evaluation governs claims on attraction of error below Rogers v. United States (premised on a district courtroom’s failure to permit the defendant to be current, to take part, or to object throughout a deliberating jury’s questions), because the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the ninth Circuit held under, or whether or not such claims are reviewed for harmlessness past an affordable doubt, because the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the eighth and District of Columbia Circuits have held.

Guzman Loera v. United States
21-1378
Points: (1) Whether or not below the Supreme Court docket’s precedent in United States v. Rauscher people have standing to claim violations of an extradition treaty, no matter whether or not the overseas sovereign raises an objection; and (2) whether or not extreme and punitive pretrial restraints impaired petitioner Guzman Loera’s proper to counsel, a protection, and obligatory due course of.

Ojedokun v. United States
21-1380
Challenge: Whether or not, as in civil instances, a transparent indication of congressional intent is required to rebut the presumption in opposition to extraterritorial utility of a United States prison statute.