7 News Belize

Chief Magistrate: G. Sewell Must Be Extradited
posted (October 22, 2013)
This morning, the Chief Magistrate ruled that the United States Government has established a case against Gary Sewell, and that he should be extradited.

As we've reported, according to US authorities, Gary and his brothers, Mark and Dwayne, allegedly imported cocaine into the US through Mexico, and sold marijuana in Texas from December 1994 to August 1997. They are also allegedly responsible for 1 million dollars in drug proceeds sent to Houston, Texas; Lakeland, Florida, and Belize.

Gary Seawell has been fighting that extradition since 2010, and as we told you, his attorney, Arthur Saldivar, made submissions on the last adjournment of this case that the depositions or affidavits before the court, had no oaths on them. He further claimed that these documents held no legal ground for the court to consider because they weren't properly authenticated, and that they were equivalent to hearsay.

Today, after considering his arguments for 4 weeks, the Chief Magistrate ruled against Saldivar's submissions, and more than that, she went a step further by ruling that having perused the evidence, Gary Seawell should be extradited.

After the hearing, the media spoke to Saldivar outside of court, and he explained to us why today's outcome came to a surprise to his client and him:

Rowland Parks, reporter
"You are obviously surprised that the Chief Magistrate's ruling that your client should be extradited to the United States."

Arthur Saldivar
"Surprise is not the word; the word is shocked, the word is down founded…stupefied…mollified - my God."

Rowland Parks, reporter
"Can you elaborate as to why you are feeling those particular feelings over this ruling?"

Arthur Saldivar
"An application was made in "lemini," which is an application before the substantive start of the proceedings to determine whether or not the documents were admissible. That is what the ruling should have been about; whether or not these documents were admissible for the purpose of the proceedings and certainly it was never anticipated that we were going to get a ruling in relation to the ultimate question; whether or not the case was made out."

"It is what it is. The court has made a ruling and is now for the Supreme Court to determine whether or not the ruling is in line with the law. I will say however that from my expectation natural justice required that our side be heard on each document, on each witness statement."

"Now, what the ruling is saying here; "the statements before the court are made in accordance to the laws of Belize." Now, that was one of the questions. Certainly we know that the statements were not made in accordance with the laws of Belize because they were not made in Belize, nor for courts in Belize. They were made in relation to a grand jury indictment in United States."

Rowland Parks, reporter
"The Chief Magistrate did indicate that some section 15 and 16 of the Extradition Act has been complied with. Can you address that issue?"

Arthur Saldivar
"Section 15 and 16 has to do with the acceptance of certain documents, even if they don't conformed in their form with what is required in Belize. However, the contention of the defence was in relation to whether or not the absence of an oath rendered the documents purely hearsay which would have then made them inadmissible in a court of law."

Saldivar has 15 days to make an application to the Supreme Court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, the proper means to appeal the Chief Magistrate's decision. He told the media that he will have this application before the courts well before the allotted time expires. Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin is expected to hand down a decision on a habeas corpus application for Mark Seawell which was heard 3 months ago.

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