Drug Court Magistrate Carolita Bethell is set to rule on whether 14 men wanted in the United States on drug smuggling should be extradited to face the charges.
Bethell will hand down the judgment on January 29 in the case of Melvin Maycock Sr., his son Melvin Maycock Jr., Trevor Roberts, Gordon Newbold, Sheldon Moore, Devroy Moss, Shanto Curry, brothers Lynden Deal and Bryan Deal, Torrey Lockhart, Laron Lockhart, Wilfred Ferguson, Derek Rigby and Carl Culmer.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida requested the men’s extradition back in 2004. Police arrested the other suspects in June 2004, but Maycock Sr. remained at large until his capture in 2008 during a high-speed chase.
However, the hearing has proceeded in fits and starts because two constitutional motions — one challenging the validity of the Extradition Act and the other challenging the constitutionality of the Listening Devices Act stayed the case before the magistrate.
Bethell has continued with the matter although the men have taken their challenge against the Listening Devices Act to the Privy Council, the country’s final appellate court.
Yesterday, Maurice Glinton, who appears for Roberts and Moss, and Henry Bostwick, QC, who appears for Moore, objected to the hearing continuing while the Privy Council’s ruling was still pending.
However, Bethell said she did not have a stay. Glinton and Bostwick held a conflicting view that the outstanding matter in the Privy Council had stayed an inferior court.
All of the men are on bail, with the exception of Maycock Sr., who is serving a three-year sentence on a drug possession with intent to supply case that was committed while he was at large.
By Artesia Davis
Guardian Senior Reporter
