High Court finds sufficient evidence to extradite Troy Thomas to US

Justice Navindra Singh on Thursday ruled that there is sufficient evidence against Troy Thomas to warrant his extradition to the United States of America, where he is wanted in connection with two criminal matters. In addition, Thomas was ordered to pay $450,000 in court costs.

Justice Singh has accordingly dismissed an application by Thomas, a prisoner, in which he sought to challenge his “illegal” confinement.
Thomas has been accused of murdering Keith Frank, 20, a Guyanese who was shot and killed on December 11, 2011 outside a Richmond Hill, New York party. He has also been accused of inflicting injuries upon Dr. Katherine Maloney.
Following a hearing in 2018, Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus had ordered Thomas extradited to the USA to face the charges levelled against him.
In committing Thomas for extradition, the Magistrate, among other things, ruled that she believed the fugitive was Troy Thomas, although he insisted that his name was Marvin Williams. In June 2012, a US judge issued a warrant for his arrest in the name of Troy Thomas.
Since 2012, authorities in the United States had issued a wanted bulletin for the murder suspect.
In an affidavit sworn to by Thomas, he is arguing that his confinement is illegal; that he is being unlawfully detained and subjected to legal processes unsupported by any legal basis or foundation.
In court documents, Thomas said he is applying to the court for leave to issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus, directing the Commissioner of Police to show cause why he should not be immediately released.
In early 2018, before High Court Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, lawyers for Thomas, including Nigel Hughes, Bernard Da Silva and Darren Wade, had mounted a challenge against the Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and Guyana.
On June 15, 2018, Justice Barlow ruled that the Magistrates’ Courts had jurisdiction to hear the extradition proceedings.
The Judge further ruled that there is an Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and Guyana. The Judge had noted that the Extradition Act 1870 to 1935 and the 1931 Treaty were incorporated into domestic legislation in Guyana.
Further in the affidavit, Thomas said, “I am advised by my Attorney-at-Law, and verily believe, that the treaty which was entered into between the United Kingdom and the United States of America on December 22, 1931, when Guyana was a colony of the United Kingdom, was never incorporated into the domestic laws of Guyana.”