Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A Jamaican man who fled to the island in 1986 after pleading guilty to drug-related charges in the United States lost his legal battle in the Supreme Court yesterday to have his extradition order set aside.

He is Louis Timoll, 59, fisherman and community leader, of Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine. Attorneys-at-law Earl Witter and Barrington Frankson had argued that it was oppressive and unfair for the US government to seek to extradite Timoll after he had been living here for so many years. They argued that Timoll was living an open life in Jamaica and was not in hiding.

Evading the authorities

Deputy Solicitor General Patrick Foster, attorney-at-law Kevin Powell from the Attorney-General's Department, and Crown Counsel Chester Crooks submitted that, when Timoll fled to Jamaica in 1986, he was evading the authorities and was only seen by the police in 2001. They said he therefore could not rely on the long delay in having him extradited.

The Full Court, comprising Justice Donald McIntosh, Justice Gloria Smith and Justice Lloyd Hibbert, held that the delay was of Timoll's own making and dismissed the motion.

Timoll had pleaded guilty in 1986 to charges of conspiracy to import marijuana with intent to possess and distribute. He was on bail but, the day he was to be sentenced, he fled to Jamaica. The US issued a request for his extradition in March 2003 and he was arrested in November 2003.

An order was made for his extradition in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court in June 2004.