LAW.coLAW.co

UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Scott WILLIAMS, Appellee

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit1979-10-12No. Misc. No. 79-8102
611 F.2d 914

Summary

Holding. The court reversed the district court's bail order, holding that the requirement to show special circumstances before granting bail in extradition cases applies to pre-hearing bail applications as well as post-hearing applications, and that the release of Williams's brother on bail in a parallel case does not constitute special circumstances sufficient to justify Williams's release.

Williams was arrested pursuant to an extradition warrant issued based on a Canadian request to prosecute him for conspiracy to import narcotics. The district court granted him bail pending the extradition hearing, but the appellate court stayed that order. The central issue was whether the established rule requiring 'special circumstances' to justify bail in extradition cases applies only after an extradition hearing has occurred or also applies before such a hearing.

The appellate court ruled that the special circumstances requirement applies both before and after an extradition hearing. The court rejected the district court's attempt to limit the rule to post-hearing situations, finding no precedent supporting such a limitation and noting that the foundational case establishing the rule itself involved pre-hearing confinement. The court also determined that the fact Williams's brother had been released on bail in a similar case did not constitute sufficiently grave special circumstances to warrant Williams's release.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • When the 'special circumstances' requirement for bail in extradition cases applies
  • Whether pre-hearing and post-hearing bail applications are treated differently
  • What circumstances qualify as sufficiently 'special' to justify bail pending extradition

Procedural posture

The appellant government appealed a district court order granting bail to the appellee pending an extradition hearing.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

Appellee Williams was arrested on September 26, 1979 pursuant to a warrant issued by a United States Magistrate in Boston. The warrant was issued on the basis of a telegraphic communication from the Government of Canada to the Department of State requesting the extradition of Williams to face a charge of conspiracy to import a narcotic. A hearing before a magistrate to determine whether appellee should be extradited has been scheduled for October 31,1979. On October 4, the district court ordered appellee released on bail pending the hearing. On October 5, a judge of this court stayed that order.

In a case involving foreign extradition, bail should not be granted absent “special circumstances.” Wright v. Henkel, 190 U.S. 40, 63, 23 S.Ct. 781, 47 L.Ed. 948 (1903); Beaulieu v. Hartigan, 554 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1977). Here, the district court reasoned that the special circumstances rule should be confined to cases where the question of extradition has been resolved after a hearing. The court held in the alternative that special circumstances had been shown, inasmuch as appellee’s brother, facing an extradition hearing on the same charge in the Southern District of New York, has been released on bail over the government’s objection.

The district court erred in limiting the “special circumstances” rule to post-hearing bail applications. Wright v. Henkel itself was a case of pre-hearing confinement, 190 U.S. at 41, 57, 23 S.Ct. 781, a fact which, the Court ruled, did not distinguish it from post-hearing bail applications. Id. at 62, 23 S.Ct. 781. See also In re Klein, 46 F.2d 85 (S.D.N.Y. 1930), United States ex rel. McNamara v. Henkel, 46 F.2d 84 (S.D. N.Y. 1912) (pre-hearing bail denied in absence of special circumstances); In re Mitchell, 171 F. 289 (S.D.N.Y. 1909) (L. Hand, J.) (pre-hearing bail granted upon showing of special circumstances). We have discovered no cases confining Wright v. Henkel to post-hearing bail applications.

Nor do we think that the circumstance that appellee’s brother has been released on bail is sufficiently “special” to permit appellee’s release. Previous cases have limited “special circumstances” to situations where “the justification is pressing as well as plain,” In re Klein, supra, or “in the most pressing circumstances, and when the requirements of justice are absolutely peremptory.” In re Mitchell, supra. Such circumstances may include a delayed extradition hearing, see McNamara, supra, and the need of the defendant to consult with his attorney in a civil action upon which his “whole fortune” depends, Mitchell, supra. In contrast, the discomfiture of jail, Klein, supra, and even applicant’s arguable acceptability as a tolerable bail risk, cf. Beaulieu v. Hartigan, 430 F.Supp. 915 (D.Mass.), rev’d mem. 553 F.2d 92 (1st Cir. 1977), are not special circumstances. In the present case, while it may appear unfair that appellee should remain incarcerated while his brother is released on bail, such inequality of treatment does not constitute a sufficiently grave special circumstance to justify bail.

The order of the district court is reversed. Mandate to issue forthwith.

. Beaulieu v. Hartigan, 554 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1977), involved an appeal from the district court’s denial of habeas corpus and granting of bail following an extradition hearing. Its language stating that bail should be limited to “special circumstances” therefore arguably applies only in the post-hearing context. The published opinion in Beaulieu, however, followed a stay and a reversal of a district court order of bail in a pre-hearing context. See Beaulieu v. Hartigan, 430 F.Supp. 915 (D.Mass.), rev’d mem. 553 F.2d 92 (1st Cir. 1977). The unqualified language in Beaulieu, 554 F.2d 1, should therefore be read to apply to pre-hearing bail applications as well.

. The district court remains free following remand to expedite the extradition hearing, if feasible.