Outside view: Homeward bound
The following editorial appeared Tuesday in the Yakima Herald-Republic.
The odds seemed stacked against the families who hope to see justice eventually in the deaths of their college-age children: The man charged in their deaths had fled to Ireland, where authorities have consistently refused extradition requests involving other criminal suspects.
Not refused once or twice, or even a half-dozen or dozen times.
No, Irish judges had refused extradition requests by the United States in every one of the past 19 cases.
But a Dublin judge last week broke that streak – and gave the families of three dead Washington State University students some hope that Frederick Russell will be returned to the United States for trial.
That’s exactly as it should be.
The 27-year-old Russell, a former WSU student, faces three vehicular homicide charges and four vehicular assault charges in Whitman County, stemming from four-car accident near Pullman on June 4, 2001.
Russell was allegedly drunk and driving a Chevrolet Blazer about 90 mph in a 55-mph zone along State Route 270 when he tried to pass other vehicles, striking three cars that night.
The students killed were Brandon Clements, 22, of Wapato, Wash.; Stacy G. Marrow, 21, of Milton, Wash.; and Ryan Sorensen, 21, of Westport, Wash.
John Wagner, of Harrington, Wash., Kara Eichelsdoerfer, of Central Park, Wash., and Sameer Ranade, of Kennewick were all seriously injured.
Russell posted bail and then fled in October 2001.
Irish police, following a tip, found him in October working as a security guard at a Dublin lingerie shop under the name David Carroll.
Since his arrest, he has been held in Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison.
During court hearings last month, Russell’s lawyers argued that he would be exposed to inhumane and degrading treatment, including rape and isolated confinement, in a U.S. prison. They also argued that Russell would face a much stiffer prison sentence in the United States than in Ireland, where life sentences average about 13 1/2 years.
Irish Supreme Court Judge Michael Peart was apparently neither impressed nor convinced. Although Peart did not make his reasons public, he ruled that Russell must return to face trial, here.
There is a two-week period – which ends June 6 – for appeals, and Russell and his attorneys might well try that route.
We hope not. Five years is long enough for the families of these three college students to wait. Whether Russell is guilty or innocent, the trial must move forward – for justice to be done and for the families to finally be able to put this behind them, at least to some degree.
If not for Judge Peart, this might well have been just the 20th case of extradition, and justice, denied.