Government contractor’s extradition from Mexico for criminal trial is upheld

A government contractor accused of supplying defective and non-conforming spare parts to the government appealed his criminal conviction on the basis that he was improperly extradited from Mexico.

The indictment used to secure the extradition did not mention that the contractor was “aiding and abetting” the crime; it simply alleged the crime.  The defendant argued that this violated the extradition treaty between the United States and Mexico.

The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit disagreed.  It held that “aiding and abetting” is a theory of liability, not a separate offense.  Therefore, the treaty’s “rule of specialty” did not apply.  (Interestingly, the Fourth Circuit confirmed that it has not yet ruled as to whether an individual defendant has standing to raise a specialty violation as had some Circuits).

The Court affirmed the conviction and sentence — 105 years in prison and more than $6 million in restitution.

The case was United States v. Roger Day, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 24590 (November 29, 2012).