Extradition from Canada—Luke Sommer

The crime of which former US Army Ranger Luke Sommer is accused is not all that unusual; he’s accused of committing a bank robbery in Tacoma, Washington in August.^[1] The fact that he apparently fled to British Columbia after allegedly committing the crime^[2], is also not surprising. What is surprising is that the alleged bank robbery is being characterized as a political offense, with Mr. Sommer “claiming the holdup—if he did it—was politically motivated: he intended all along to use the notoriety from the heist to draw attention to a rape and murders he claims to have witnessed while serving in Iraq in 2004 and Afghanistan in 2005.”^[3] Such a strategy is designed to prevent him from being extradited to the United States.

Under the US-Canada extradition framework, extradition cannot be had “when the offense in respect of which extradition is requested is of a political character.”^[4] Bank robbery, as an act, does not fall within the exception to the extradition exception.^[5] Put a different way, there are certain classes of crimes for which extradition can be had, even when they are of a political nature; these crimes are: murder, infliction of serious bodily harm; sexual assault; kidnapping, abduction, hostage-taking or extortion; the use of explosives and like devises in circumstances in which human life is likely to be endangered; and conspiracy to do any of the previous.^[6] Bank robbery, it seems, would not fall within the exceptions to the exception.

Though the ultimate decision lies with “the authorities of the Government in which the requisition is made,”^[7] the United States is attempting to diminish Mr. Sommer’s credibility by stating that an investigation into “allegations that dealt with a rape in Iraq and murders in Afghanistan [have not been] substantiated.”^[8]

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[1] Army Disputes Former Ranger’s War Crimes Claims, AP (via CTV.ca), Dec. 10, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Extradition Treaty, Dec. 3, 1971, U.S. Can., Art. 4 para. 1(iii), 27 U.S.T. 983.
[5] See Extradition Act of 1999 c. 18 s.46(2) (Canada).
[6] Id.
[7] Treaty, supra note 4, Art. 4 para.1(iii).
[8] AP, supra note 1.