A federal magistrate judge in Boston has approved the contested extradition of a Princeton man to Scotland, opening the way for him to be tried in a criminal court in that country on a charge of attempted murder of a fellow student in 2011.
Alexander Hilton, a 2009 graduate of St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, is accused of poisoning a fellow student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland by spiking his bottle of red wine with methanol, also known as wood alcohol. Doctors say the student, a fellow American citizen, was temporarily blinded and would have died if he had not sought medical attention.
US Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal acknowledged claims by Alexander Hilton’s lawyers that he suffers from severe mental illness and that the extradition to another country could worsen his condition, but the judge said Hilton would have to state those claims to the US Department of State, which will ultimately decide whether to turn him over to Scotland....
Is he on SSRIs?
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"Mass. man fights UK extradition in poisoning" by Milton J. Valencia | Globe Staff, February 22, 2013
A 21-year-old prep-school alumnus from Princeton, Mass., is fighting extradition to the United Kingdom for allegedly trying to murder a fellow American student at Scotland’s prestigious St. Andrews University by spiking his bottle of red wine with the ingredient used in antifreeze.
Alexander Hilton returned to the United States around March 18, 2011, less than two weeks after the alleged poisoning and just days after he was questioned by investigators in Scotland. He has been staying at his family’s home in Princeton and was arrested last week under an extradition treaty the United States has with the United Kingdom.
On Thursday in federal court in Boston, Hilton asked to be released on bail pending an extradition hearing, scheduled for March 7. A US magistrate judge is considering the request.
A graduate of St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, Hilton at the time of the alleged poisoning was a sophomore studying economics and computing at the University of St. Andrews, the celebrated school where England’s Prince William met his wife, Kate Middleton, in 2001.
Authorities said Hilton gave a fellow student a bottle of red wine and encouraged him to drink it in drinking games in a dormitory room before a university ball, telling him it was a gift. Authorities allege that Hilton had spiked it with methanol, also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, a sweet-smelling, colorless yet deadly, flammable liquid used in antifreeze.
The student, 19 at the time, suffered severe nausea and headaches for days and started to lose his vision before going to the hospital. He would have died if he had not sought medical help, authorities said, and he temporarily lost his eyesight from the poisoning.
“It’s an attempted murder case . . . a serious case, and we can’t lose sight of that,” said Assistant US Attorney David J. D’Addio, arguing Thursday against Hilton’s release on bail. “The evidence before us is Mr. Hilton deliberately poisoned a student at St. Andrew’s College.”
A family member of the victim, who is from Virginia, said the family did not want to comment because it did not want to interfere with the judicial process, but that it supports the prosecution of Hilton.
Authorities said they scanned Hilton’s computer after the poisoning and found that he had conducted Internet searches for information about combining alcohol and methanol. He also had a funnel in his dorm room, which he said was for drinking games.
The authorities did not disclose a motive for the alleged poisoning, but witnesses told investigators that Hilton had been acting strangely before and after the incident. He also told witnesses that he had past behavioral problems with students, according to the police report.
Hilton’s lawyer, Norman S. Zalkind, said that Hilton has denied any wrongdoing and that he will fight extradition to Scotland, arguing that the US treaty with the United Kingdom should be voided because it fails to guarantee a US citizen the rights that are preserved under the American judicial system.
“There are some profound constitutional issues in our case,” he said.
Tell it to a "terrorist" in Gitmo.
So much for all that press coverage, 'eh?
He also pleaded with US Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal to release Hilton on bail pending the extradition hearing, saying he has a severe mental illness that he has suffered since childhood and that his condition has worsened since his arrest. He has been placed on suicide watch at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, R.I., and stripped naked with only a blanket to keep him warm, Zalkind said. He has not been eating, he said.
Wow, he's being tortured while he's waiting.
So how long has he been on the mind-bending prescription pharmaceuticals?
Hilton, dressed in tan prison garb, did not comment during the proceeding Thursday. He bounced his knee repeatedly throughout, only stopping on occasion to look back at his family.
“He’s going to get sicker and sicker and sicker,” said Zalkind, arguing that Hilton was suffering from emotional troubles at the university, too. He said that Hilton stabilized after returning to his home in Princeton, where his mother is a homemaker and his father runs a management consulting business.
Hilton takes medications, has been seeing a therapist, and has improved, Zalkind said.
So he is on them, and the ma$$ media is minimizing it.
He pointed to the support of family members in the crowd, including Hilton’s girlfriend, saying, “These are good people; these people love their son. He will feel better. He will function better. He will do better.”
Zalkind described Hilton as a smart man, in the 99th percentile in his class, but with the socialization skills of a 14-year-old. Someone should have noticed his troubles when he began flunking classes, he said.
“He shouldn’t have been away; he should have been home,” Zalkind said....
And he should stay home, right?
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Tit for tat?
"UK police say they won’t charge hacker" Associated Press, December 15, 2012
LONDON — British authorities opted Friday not to charge a computer hacker who waged a decade-long struggle to avoid trial in the United States for allegedly breaking into military computers.
Gary McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, was accused of one of the largest breaches of military networks, carried out soon after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Related: A Medal From the AmeriKan Media
Yeah, who are the hackers again?
US officials have said McKinnon’s hacking shut down the US Army district responsible for protecting Washington, and caused about $900,000 worth of damage.
British prosecutors had to decide whether McKinnon, 46, should be tried here over alleged breaches of US military and NASA networks, after he successfully fought extradition to the United States. They said Friday the appropriate place for trial would have been the United States, and they were recommending police take no further action. That means no charges will be brought.
McKinnon has said he was scouring sensitive US computer networks in an attempt to uncover concealed evidence of extraterrestrial life.
He did it over that cover story crapola?
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Also see: English Extraditions
"Militant Islamic cleric released on bail in Britain; Preacher’s case test of justice in UK, lawyers say" by Alan Cowell and John F. Burns | New York Times, November 14, 2012
LONDON — A militant Islamic preacher wanted in Jordan to face terrorism charges, who is depicted by British officials as a top operative of al-Qaida, was released on bail Tuesday after winning the latest in seven years of legal battles that have been portrayed by his lawyers as crucial tests of British justice.
The preacher, appeared to be smiling as he left the Long Lartin maximum security prison in Worcestershire.
When he arrived outside his London home, a small group of protesters chanted ‘‘Out, out, out,’’ witnesses said.
His release came a day after an immigration appeals tribunal ruled Monday that sending Othman to Jordan would violate his right to a fair trial under European human rights law.
The ruling was a blow to the British government, which wants to rid the country of foreign-born militants it says are fomenting Islamic militancy.
British news reports Tuesday said the bail conditions included a 16-hour curfew, electronic tagging, a ban on Internet use, and prohibitions on meeting some people.
British authorities have been seeking to deport Abu Qatada, 52, a militant Islamic preacher whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman who is wanted in Jordan to face terrorism charges [and] who is depicted by British officials as a top operative of Al Qaeda, for years, but their efforts were blocked by the European Court of Human Rights over concerns that evidence obtained from others under torture might be used against him in Jordan.
The preacher, who is of Palestinian descent, was convicted in absentia of involvement in two bombing plots in Jordan in 1999 and 2000 and faces a retrial if returned home.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the government would appeal Monday’s ruling.
‘‘Qatada is a dangerous man,’’ she said. ‘‘The government has been doing everything it can to get rid of Abu Qatada, and we will continue to do so.’’
But, legal specialists said, an appeal can be made only on a point of law, and government lawyers must first work out a strategy to proceed.
Keith Vaz, a Labor politician who heads Parliament’s home affairs committee, told the BBC that legal efforts over the past seven years to deport Othman had cost taxpayers a million pounds, the equivalent of $1.6 million.
“At the moment, it looks pretty farcical that a very dangerous man is now put on bail having gone through the court system for seven years and having cost the taxpayer 1 million pounds,’’ he said.
“What we need to do is study the judgment carefully and to try to persuade the Jordanians to do the only thing that the courts wanted them to, which is to strengthen the Jordanian criminal code,’’ Vaz said.
The ruling by the tribunal said the judges were not satisfied that ‘‘there is no real risk’’ that statements made earlier by witnesses under duress would not be used at a retrial.
While many newspapers and politicians depict Othman as a terrorist and henchman of Osama bin Laden, his lawyers portray his case as testing the bounds of British justice.
Othman’s solicitor, Gareth Peirce, said it was ‘‘important to reaffirm this country’s position that we abhor the use of torture, and a case that was predicated upon evidence from witnesses who have been tortured is rejected — rejected by the courts of this country, as by the European Court.’’
“It is important to emphasize the fundamental rules of law that we subscribe to. To that extent, it is important for other cases, not just for this case,’’ she said....
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More crap coming from Britain:
That would be Naseer of the Zazi case, the plot that was disrupted when police stopped Zazi’s car as it entered New York at a routine(?) drug checkpoint, and then allowed him to go on his way after tailing him across the country.
Can you say SET-UP PATSY, readers? I knew ya' could.
"Terror suspect pleads not guilty" Associated Press, January 08, 2013
NEW YORK — A suspect in an alleged Al Qaeda plot against the New York City subways also was part of a terrorism campaign that would have targeted Britain and Norway, US prosecutors said.
Abid Naseer pleaded not guilty Monday. The judge ordered Naseer, extradited last week from Britain, held without bail.
Prosecutors aim to prove Naseer collected bomb ingredients, conducted reconnaissance, and was in contact with other alleged Al Qaeda operatives. He was one of 12 people arrested in a counterterrorism operation in April 2009, but all were subsequently released without charge. They were ordered to leave Britain, but Naseer avoided being deported to Pakistan after a judge ruled it was likely he’d be mistreated.
Naseer was rearrested in 2010 at the request of prosecutors in Brooklyn, where an indictment named him as a codefendant with Adis Medunjanin.
US authorities allege Medunjanin, Najibullah Zazi, and Zarein Ahmedzay traveled to Pakistan in 2008 to seek training from Al Qaeda. Zazi admitted he tested explosives in Denver before going to New York to try to carry out the scheme.
After they threatened his family.
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"Briton gets 3 years in missile sting" January 10, 2013
EL PASO — A federal judge sentenced a British businessman to nearly three years in prison Wednesday for trying to buy surface-to-air missile parts from undercover US agents to resell to Iran.
Christopher Tappin, 66, pleaded guilty in November to aiding and abetting to export defense materials in a deal that opened the door for him to serve part of his sentence in Britain, near his ailing wife. US District Judge David Briones said Wednesday that he would recommend that the Department of Justice approve any request by Tappin to be transferred to the United Kingdom.
Tappin read a brief statement during the sentencing hearing in which he apologized for the crime. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed not to oppose any request by Tappin to serve part of his 33-month sentence in Britain.
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