Portions of today's opinion may sound like an April Fool's joke, but aren't:
"Almost immediately upon entering the United States,
Alexander filed a motion to dismiss his indictment, claiming
that the delay between the indictment and his arrest violated
his constitutional right to a speedy trial. The district court
held a hearing on the issue during which the U.S. and
Canadian officials responsible for Alexander’s case testified
that the process of extraditing a defendant from Canada can
be a frustrating one. . . .
In this case, it took the U.S. prosecutor 9.6 months to
submit a draft of the extradition request to OIA. It then took
OIA four months to complete its initial review and return the draft to the prosecutor. Four months later, the request was
provided to the Canadian authorities. Canada did not approve
the request, however, and instead repeatedly returned it to the
United States with demands for corrections or additional
information. On each occasion, the United States prosecutor
revised the request per Canada’s specifications, only to have
Canada identify other reasons to return it. This process
continued for over three years. According to the testimony at
the hearing, this extensive back-and-forth between the United
States and Canada was 'very typical.'"
Those darn Canadians. If they don't shape up, they may find themselves invaded. Again.
