Fuller v The Attorney General (Belize)

[2011] UKPC 23
Privy Council Appeal No 0048 of 2010

JUDGMENT

Rhett Allen Fuller (Appellant) v The Attorney General of Belize (Respondent)

From the Court of Appeal of Belize

before

LORD PHILLIPS
LORD MANCE
LORD CLARKE
LORD HAMILTON
SIR HENRY BROOKE

JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY

Lord Phillips

ON

9 August 2011

Heard on 11-12 April 2011

Appellant
Edward Fitzgerald QC
Eamon Courtenay SC
Ben Silverstone
(Instructed by Allen & Overy LLP)

Respondent
James Lewis QC
Rachel Scott
(Instructed by Charles Russell LLP)

LORD PHILLIPS :

Introduction

On 22 March 1990 a man called Larry Miller was shot and killed in Miami, Dade County, Florida. On the following day a warrant was issued in Miami for the arrest of the appellant on charges which included the first degree murder of Mr Miller. The appellant was not then apprehended. He left the United States and went to Belize. On 28 January 1998 a Grand Jury in Florida indicted the appellant for the first degree murder of Mr Miller. On 17 August 1998 the United States Embassy in Belize made a formal request for the appellant's extradition to the United States. The appellant was arrested and remanded in custody on 21 October 1998. On 26 February 1999, after a hearing, the Chief Magistrate ordered his extradition, remanding him to prison to await this. On 5 May the appellant was granted leave to apply for a writ of habeas corpus and on 16 June he was granted bail, pending the hearing of his application. The application was refused by the Chief Justice, sitting in the Supreme Court, on 29 April 2002. Leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal was granted on 20 May 2002, bail was granted pending appeal and a Notice of Appeal was filed on the following day. Nearly 6 years of inertia followed. On 27 March 2009 the Court of Appeal dismissed the appellant's appeal. His appeal comes before the Board pursuant to leave to appeal which was granted by the Court of Appeal on 2 March 2010.

The major issue raised by this appeal relates to the extent of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Belize on an application for habeas corpus in an extradition case. It was and is the appellant's contention that this case has various features, not least the delay that has occurred, which render the application for extradition an abuse of process. This was, in essence, the basis of his application for habeas corpus. The Chief Justice rejected his application on the ground that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to entertain a challenge to extradition based on abuse of process. The discretion to discharge a person, committed in extradition proceedings, on the ground of abuse of process was vested exclusively in the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize.

In the Court of Appeal the appellant contended that not merely the Supreme Court, but also the Chief Magistrate, had had jurisdiction to entertain a challenge to extradition proceedings, based on abuse of process. The Court…

JUDGMENT