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Why fight extradition from one state to another

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kzgroves

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Arizona

My husband is being held in Idaho on a fugitve warrant from Arizona. We have been advised to fight extradition. Why are the resons for fighting extradtion?
 


outonbail

Senior Member
The only logical reason to fight extradition that I can think of, is when they have the wrong person in custody. When you're not the person who the warrant was issued for. This can happen when someone has the same name or if someone was to commit identity theft against you and then use your identity when they are arrested for a crime.
In cases like this you would want the authorities to compare fingerprints and provide photos to prove they have the wrong person.

However, if your husband is in fact the person that Arizona is after, then there is really nothing to fight. It becomes a matter of Arizona proving your husband is the person they want. It does become more of a process for Arizona to have to go through because there is paperwork that must be signed and submitted through the governor's office.

So I suppose there are times where a state doesn't have the manpower or resources available, or are just to busy to go through the entire process and this results in them not picking up the person they have placed a hold on.

Now when a person does not fight extradition, the state who has placed a hold on them has thirty days to pick them up. The person being held will also get credit for doing the thirty days while they are waiting to be picked up. So when they are sentenced, all their time in custody is credited toward their total sentence.

When a person does fight extradition, the state that has placed a hold on them then has ninety days to go through the extradition process. However, the person being held does not get credit for the time they are in custody while fighting the extradition.

Bottom line is that if the crime is serious enough, the state will get them extradited. There are no murderers that are getting released because they fought extradition.

So if people are telling him to fight extradition, it is probably because they believe that the crime he is wanted for isn't serious enough for Arizona to bother going through the entire extradition process. But that is of course a gamble.
But even if they do not pick him up if he fights it, the warrant is still in the system and he can be picked up on it again and again. Maybe the same county or city will not pull him in on it, but the next county over may and he'll have to go through the entire drill all over again.

There are other issues that can come up when there is an outstanding warrant for someone's arrest, such as missed employment opportunities and credit problems when applying for a loan, receiving state aid etc.

So the best way to resolve a warrant is to do whatever it takes to answer for it and clear up the case. This way there will come a time when all these problems are behind him.

It beats living as a fugitive.

Of course if he's looking at a life sentence, he's got nothing to lose by fighting it,,,, because he's locked up either way.
 

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