Opinion
BENJAMIN B. WAGNER, United States Attorney, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ, Assistant United States Attorney, Sacramento, CA, Attorneys for Plaintiff, United States of America.
MOTION TO DISMISS COMPLAINT AND ORDER
BARBARA A. McAULIFFE, Magistrate Judge.
The United States seeks to extradite fugitive Crispin Ochoa Pacheco (hereinafter "Ochoa") to face the charge of Aggravated Homicide in the State of Nayarit, Mexico, arising from the February 1, 1997 shooting and killing of Felipe Medina Escalante. Mexico seeks extradition pursuant to the Extradition Treaty between the United States and the United Mexican States. 31 U.S.T. 5059; TIAS 9656.
On February 18, 1998, the United States filed a Complaint for Provisional Arrest and Extradition in the above-referenced matter. On February 26, 1998, United States Magistrate Judge Dennis L. Beck of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California issued a Warrant of Arrest based on that Complaint.
It was subsequently discovered that Ochoa was arrested in the State of Kentucky and convicted of Homicide. He was sentenced to a 25-year prison term. The extradition warrant issued by this Court was never served on Ochoa. Ochoa continues to serve the aforesaid prison sentence in the Eastern District of Kentucky at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty, Kentucky. Ochoa's earliest possible release date is April 24, 2013.
Jurisdiction to hear the extradition case lies where the fugitive is "found". 18 U.S.C. § 3184 (court "may, upon complaint made under oath, charging any person found within his jurisdiction, ... issue [its] warrant for the apprehension of the person so charged"). Because this Court no longer has personal jurisdiction over Ochoa, the Complaint for Provisional Arrest and the Warrant of Arrest in case no. 01:98-MC-00021 DLB should be dismissed without prejudice to re-file in the appropriate jurisdiction.
ORDER
GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, the Complaint for Provisional Arrest and Extradition and the Warrant of Arrest in case no. 01:98-MC-00021 DLB are dismissed without prejudice to re-file in the appropriate jurisdiction. Warrant is Ordered recalled.
IT IS SO ORDERED.