Extradition from Canada—Robert Lavine

The extradition of Robert Lavine from Canada to the United States is taking longer than an Ohio prosecutor would like.^[1] Two years ago, Mr. Lavine pleaded no contest to 88 counts of possessing and creating child pornography in Ohio.^[2] But he fled to Thornhill, Canada before he could be sentenced, and now, Ohio prosecutor Ron O’Brien is becoming frustrated.^[3] According to him, in cases other than for the death penalty, extradition “is usually accomplished within 90 days. … It’s just, for lack of a better description, legal technicalities that keep arising, and delays and continuances. And I understand, there is under the Canadian Extradition Act a method to appeal each decision in the process of extradition.”^[4] Armand La Barge, the police chief in Canada’s York Region admits that appeals have delayed the case.^[5]

Indeed, under the Canadian Extradition Act, “a person may appeal against an order of committal … to the court of appeal of the province in which the order of committal … was made, (a) on a ground of appeal that involves a question of law alone; (b) on a ground of appeal that involves a question of fact or a question of mixed law and fact, with leave of the court of appeal or a judge of the court of appeal; or (c) on a ground of appeal not set out in … (a) or (b) that appears to the court of appeal to be a sufficient ground of appeal, with leave of the court of appeal.”^[6]

If the court of appeal allows an appeal, which it has done in this case, it can set aside the order of committal and either discharge the person or order a new extradition hearing.^[7]

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[1] Americans Frustrated by Extradition Delays, CBC News, Nov. 8, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Extradition Act, S.C., ch. 18, § 49 (1999).
[7] Id. § 54(a).