PHILIPSBURG - The Joint Court of Justice has advised the Governor of St. Maarten on Tuesday to allow the extradition of government messenger Dexter Hyman (34) to French judicial authorities.

 

The French seek Hyman’s extradition in connection with his involvement in the death of Michel Campanella, who died at a bar in French St. Martin on September 7, 2002.

 

A Court of Justice in Guadeloupe had sentenced Hyman in absentia to 15 years, on May 15, 2009. He was found guilty of mistreatment that had led to Campanella’s death.

 

The Solicitor-General of the Court in Guadeloupe had requested Hyman’s extradition by the authorities in St. Maarten on February 11. In an email sent eight days later, acting Solicitor-General Flavien Noailles had informed the Attorney-General’s Office in St. Maarten that Hyman was to appear in the French Criminal Court for retrial and would be entitled to make an appeal before the Court of Appeal.

 

St. Maarten’s Prosecutor’s Office had submitted a request for the man’s extradition at the Joint Court of Justice on April 3. The Joint Court, which has its seat in Curaçao, was to make a decision on Hyman’s case last month, but decided to reopen the case in order to obtain additional documents and delayed its final decision on the extradition request until Tuesday.

 

The Joint Court stated it did not object to the extradition because the crime to which Hyman was convicted carries a prison sentence in St. Maarten of more than one year.

 

The extradition was also in compliance with all other formal requirements as mentioned in the European Extradition Treaty, the Joint Court stated.

 

A Dutch national may be extradited to France and sentenced to an unconditional prison sentence, provided he may be able to sit out the sentence in his own country, in this case, St. Maarten.

 

The Joint Court also stated that Hyman had failed in “immediately proving” his innocence. The defendant had told the Court during the hearing of his case that he had wanted to go home to his family and children.

 

“I have done nothing wrong, yet I have spent six months in jail. I have a job of 14 years on the line here,” he said.

The Judges of the Joint Court stated that other arguments presented by attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann in his client’s defence, such as concerning the evidence presented and the excess of time between crime and trial, should be submitted to a criminal judge in France.

 

(The Daily Herald)