Immigration Lawyer Meyerovich comments on Extradition between Mexico-US

Killer's Extradition May Take Time

U.S. Must Deal With Mexican Authorities In Order To Get Zachs Back To Connecticut

February 20, 2011|By AMANDA FALCONE, The Hartford Courant

After more than 20 years on the run, convicted murderer Adam M. Zachs was captured in Mexico on Feb. 1. But when — or whether — he'll return to the U.S. to start serving his 60-year sentence is anyone's guess.

Officials say the extradition process isn't easy.

"It's a lengthy process," said John Fahey, a senior assistant state's attorney, who is handling the international extradition process for Zachs.

Zachs, 47, was arrested in Leon, Mexico, a city of about 1.1 million people in the state of Guanajuato.

Zachs disappeared in 1989 while appealing his prison sentence for fatally shooting Peter Carone at Prospect Café in West Hartford in 1987. Police said the two men had been watching an NCAA basketball tournament game. A minor argument started, and the two went outside and scuffled, according to testimony at Zachs' trial.

Police say they were led to Zachs through his connections in the U.S. They say Zachs, who went by the name Ruben Fridman, had a wife and children in Mexico. He was arrested on a provisional arrest warrant just outside a computer repair business police say he operated in Leon and is being held in Mexico City.

Little else is being said about Zachs' life over the past two decades because officials are still investigating, they say.

U.S. officials have 60 days, or until March 31, to prepare, translate and give to authorities in Mexico the paperwork for Zachs' extradition, Fahey said. The U.S. must prove its case for extradition on paper, he said.

Fahey said the schedule for the rest of the process is up to Mexico. At this time, Zachs has not waived extradition, meaning that he has not agreed to come back to the U.S. on his own, Fahey said. Zachs has an attorney who will represent him in a Mexican court, said Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Andrew Tingley. Zachs will not appear in court himself, Tingley said.

It is unknown whether any court dates relating to Zachs' extradition case have been scheduled. The attorney general's office in Mexico, which handles such cases, confirmed that Zachs had been arrested, but would not provide additional information. The extradition process can take months, or sometimes even longer, the office said.

Fahey said Zachs' case is uncommon because most people flee before they are tried or convicted, not after they are sentenced.

If extradited, Fahey said, Zachs would likely go straight to prison in Connecticut. Too much time has passed since Zachs' attempt to appeal his conviction, Fahey said, and Zachs has now lost the right to appeal.

The extradition process between the U.S. and Mexico is complicated, and the extradition treaty between the two countries is not always enforced, said Alex Meyerovich, an attorney for M.C. Law Group LLP in Bridgeport.

"In reality, it comes down to politics," he said, explaining that all the parties involved follow the law, but with their own agendas. "It's a game for grownups."

Meyerovich said extradition is decided case by case. Mexico could choose to deal with Zachs itself and impose its own punishment on the U.S. charges, he said. Doing so might prevent the U.S. from also punishing Zachs if he were to go back home because it could be considered double jeopardy, he added.

Immigrants use civil lawsuits to protest raids by federal agents

This excerpt is from the article "Putting Heat On ICE" published by Connecticut Law Tribune Monday, November 16, 2009
Copyright 2009, ALM Properties, Inc.

In May 2006, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency launched “Operation Return To Sender.” The goal: track down, arrest and deport undocumented immigrants, particularly felons, gang members and other dangerous types.

Since then, ICE agents have conducted scores of raids on homes and workplaces. Advocacy groups and lawyers say some agents have been overly zealous, and the advocates have regularly gone to court to try to void arrests and block deportations. But in what seems to be a small, but significant trend, some have also gone on the offensive, filing civil lawsuits against ICE and its agents.

The most recent example is in Connecticut, where a Yale School of Law legal clinic has filed suit on behalf of 10 undocumented immigrants whose homes were raided in June 2007. Immigration attorneys differ on whether the claim has much chance of success. But most agree that litigation is an interesting strategy that could buy time in America for the clients and give ICE officials reason to reconsider tactics.

Attorney Alex Meyerovich, of Bridgeport’s M.C. Law Group, called the lawsuit part of a “cat and mouse game” between federal agents and advocates for immigrants. Similar claims have been filed following sweeps on immigrant homes in New Jersey, New York, Georgia and Northern California in recent years.

“What Yale is trying to do is to intimidate ICE,” said Meyerovich. “To show there is a potential liability if they step over an invisible border. It doesn’t matter if [the lawsuit] succeeds or fails. It’s an important power struggle.”

Meyerovich has few kind words for ICE agents, calling some of them “vigilantes.” But he also would not endorse the civil rights lawsuit. “If illegal immigrants succeed in this lawsuit, the message might come out, if you come into the country illegally and get arrested, your rights were violated. I think it’s the wrong message.”

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