(CMR) Venezuelan pilot Juan Carlos Gonzalez Infante (61), who has been locked up in the Cayman Islands for almost five years awaiting extradition proceedings, is said to have early-onset dementia.
The information was revealed in a recent court judgment for a Habeas Corpus application filed by Infante, who claims he has been unlawfully detained for over four years.
Infante is currently detained pending his appeal of an order for him to be extradited to the United States to answer to drug trafficking charges. The appeal is set to be heard on 18 June 2024.
Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale dismissed his habeas corpus application, which was heard in April, explaining that Infante had the right of appeal, so the remedy of habeas corpus was excluded. Habeas corpus is the correct means of redress only against decisions that fall outside the scope of the statutory right of appeal.
Infante filed the application on the grounds that he had been unlawfully detained within the Cayman Islands since 4 June 2019. He claims procedural irregularity, abuse of process, inordinate delay, and breach of human rights.
Infante was arrested along with four others on 4 June 2019 on suspicion of smuggling and money laundering, five days after he entered the Cayman Islands via private aircraft on which he was the pilot. He was remanded in custody pending trial. Despite being found not guilty, he remained in custody due to an extradition request from the United States.
In the Habeas Corpus application, Infante contends that the execution of the warrant for his extradition was unlawful in the circumstances where the request was made under the 1972 Extradition Treaty between the UK and USA, which had been repealed and replaced by the UK Extradition Act 2003 which was extended to the Cayman Islands by the Extradition Act 2003 (Overseas Territories) Order 2016. The submission is that as the request was made pursuant to the 1972 Treaty, it was flawed, and the provisional arrest warrant issued on the basis of it was unlawful.
Infante also alleges that the learned Magistrate erred in not holding that his extradition would be incompatible with the fair trial rights enshrined in the Human Rights Convention in the circumstances where the offenses were allegedly committed some 17 years ago, he is now suffering from early onset dementia and has been held in custody in these proceedings for 4 years.
On 18 November 2019, under cover of a Diplomatic Note from the British Embassy in Washington, the United States of America requested the provisional arrest of Infante for the purpose of his extradition to face trial in the Southern District Court in Florida. Pursuant to that request, on 21 November 2019, an application was made for a provisional warrant for the arrest of Infante. The application was granted, and a warrant was issued by the Chief Magistrate (ret.), His Hon. Valdis Foldats.
On 20 March 2020, Infante was acquitted of money laundering charges arising from his 2019 arrest following a trial in the Grand Court. He remained in custody pending trial in the Summary Court regarding other charges arising out of the same incident.
On 8 April 2020, Magistrate Foldats vacated the provisional arrest warrant on the grounds that the extradition request was not filed within the time limit set out in the Extradition Act 2003, as extended to the Cayman Islands by the Extradition Act 2003 (Overseas Territories) Order 2016, that is to say, within 65 days of the execution of the arrest warrant.
On 14 April 2020, Magistrate Gunn issued a second provisional arrest warrant for Infante, which was served on the same day. When he appeared in court two days later, he was remanded, and the extradition proceedings were adjourned pending the trial's outcome.
The United States transmitted its formal extradition request to the Cayman Islands on 16 April 2020. On 7 May 2020, Magistrate Gunn heard legal arguments as to the validity of the renewed application for a provisional warrant. On 8 May 2020, she handed down her decision dismissing the application to declare the second provisional arrest warrant an abuse of process of the Court.
On 8 September 2020, Infante was acquitted of the charges before the Summary Court. On 11 September 2020, he made an application for bail, which was refused. The extradition hearing was set for 19 October 2020.
That date was vacated, as were several other dates, for a variety of reasons which included Infante's need for additional time and legal aid funding to secure expert witnesses from the United States; time for further medical reports to be obtained; difficulties in securing experts who were prepared to take instructions at Cayman Islands legal aid rates; the refusal of legal aid funding for an expert to give evidence on prison conditions in Florida; and difficulties experienced by Infante in securing an expert to give evidence on the applicant's neurological condition(s).
The extradition hearing eventually took place between 15 and 18 November 2022. Judgment was reserved and handed down on 25 January 2023. The learned Magistrate, being satisfied that Infante was a person sought by the United States of America and that there were no bars to extradition, ordered that the case be referred to His Excellency the Governor for consideration under the Extradition Act 2003.
On 23 March 2023, the Governor ordered that Infante be extradited to the United States to stand trial for diverse offenses he allegedly committed between March 2006 – 2007. The offenses include conspiracy to import 5 kg or more of cocaine; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kg or more of cocaine; importation of more than 5 kg of cocaine into the USA from a place outside thereof; possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kg of cocaine; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
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