By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterDESMOND 'DESI' Brown, a 38-year-old Jamaican who is wanted in the United States on charges of murder and narcotics trafficking, has lost his legal battle in the Court of Appeal to prevent his extradition.
Brown, who has been in prison since 1997 awaiting extradition to the U.S., had asked the court to set aside an order of the Full Court on the grounds that it was oppressive and unjust to extradite him for offences which were allegedly committed more than 14 years ago. He said he had been living "an open life" since he returned to Jamaica in 1990.
He was held by the police at a football match at the National Stadium in September 1997.
Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle ordered in 1998 that Brown be extradited to faces the charges.
After the extradition order was made, an application was made in the Supreme Court for Brown to be released from prison but the Full Court turned down his application on July 19, 2000.
Brown is wanted in the Eastern District of New York on a 28-count indictment, which includes the murder of Fitzerald 'Fitz' Reid, who was gunned down outside a New York nightclub in 1990. Brown and 33 other persons are charged with offences including racketeering, murder, conspiring to launder narcotics proceeds, illegal distribution of heroin, cocaine and conspiracy to commit the offences.
The U.S. authorities are alleging that from 1979 to 1990 Brown was a part of a criminal organisation known as the 'Gullymen Posse' by virtue of the connection of the members to the McGregor Gully area of east Kingston, Jamaica.
NOT A FUGITIVE
When the hearing began in March 2004 in the Court of Appeal, Brown, through his lawyer, Patrick Atkinson, applied to amend the grounds of his appeal to refute the claim that he was a fugitive from justice. He said he served probation for drug offences in the U.S. and when his probation ended he came to Jamaica in December 1990. He said that when he left the U.S., he was not aware that there were any charges against him, therefore he could not be described as a fugitive.
The court upheld submissions by attorneys-at-law Jenice Nelson-Brown, who represented the Director of Public Prosecutions, and Annaliesa Lindsay and Peter Wilson from the Attorney-General's Department, that the amendment should not be granted because Brown was aware of the allegation when he made his application in the Supreme Court.
Brown's main grounds of appeal was that it was oppressive to extradite him because of the six-year time lapse between the indictment, referring the charges against him and the time steps were taken to extradite him.
The Court of Appeal, comprising the Hon. Ian Forte, president; Justice Paul Harrison and Justice Seymour Panton, upheld legal arguments from Bryan Sykes, senior deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, and dismissed Brown's appeal on Friday, April 2. The court held that there was no evidence to substantiate the injustice or oppression which Brown alleged.
