US murder suspect, Troy Thomas, challenges “illegal” confinement

Dec 29, 2018 News

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US murder suspect Marvin Williams, referred to as Troy Anthony Thomas, is continuing his extradition battle. Williams was ordered extradited on November 30, by Principal Magistrate Sherdel-Isaacs, who was then acting as Chief Magistrate. He is still in Guyana and has filed Constitutional proceedings before Chief Justice Roxanne George.
Williams is scheduled to appear before the Chief Justice on January 11, 2019, for Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum proceedings. The murder suspect, who is in prison, through his Attorneys, is challenging the authority of the State to hold him. Williams is asking the Court to examine and determine whether his confinement is legal.
In an affidavit sworn to by Williams, he is arguing that his confinement is illegal—that he is being unlawfully detained and subject to legal process, unsupported by any legal basis or foundation.
In Court documents seen by Kaieteur News, Williams said that he is applying to the Court for leave to issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus directing the Commissioner of Police to show cause why he should not be immediately released.
Earlier this year, lawyers for Williams, including Nigel Hughes, Bernard Da Silva and Darren Wade, had mounted a challenge against the Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and Guyana, before High Court Judge Jo-Ann Barlow. On June 15, 2018, Justice Barlow ruled that the Magistrates’ Courts had jurisdiction to hear the extradition proceedings.
The Judge further ruled that there is an extradition treaty between the United States of America and Guyana. The Judge had noted that the Extradition Act 1870 to 1935 and the 1931 Treaty were incorporated into domestic legislation in Guyana.
Further in the affidavit, Williams said, “I am advised by my Attorney-at-Law and verily believe that the treaty which was entered into between the United Kingdom and the United States of America on December 22, 1931, when Guyana was a colony of the United Kingdom, was never incorporated into the domestic laws of Guyana.”

“A Magistrate being a creature of statue is not empowered to interpret and/or apply the provisions of a treaty which has not been incorporated into the provisions of the domestic laws of Guyana. In the absence of any provisions in the treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States preventing the extradition of (Williams), the Minister of Public Security is not empowered to consider and or grant an authority to proceed to the Chief Magistrate for the extradition of Williams from Guyana to the United States of America.”
Thus, the lawyers said that they had requested of the Magistrate to refer the matter to the Constitutional jurisdiction of the High Court, pursuant to Article 153 of the Constitution of Guyana.
According to the murder suspect, the proceedings purporting to be extradition proceedings that were conducted by Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus, were beyond her legal power or authority, null, void and without legal basis for reason that there is no law which empowers her to act in the manner she did.
The lawyers contend that the extradition proceedings conducted by the Magistrate were a breach of their client’s fundamental rights as guaranteed by Articles 40, 139 and 144 of the Constitution of Guyana.
“I fear that there is a real danger that I will be wrongfully extradited. I fear that if I am extradited, I may be further extradited to a third State by the United States of America,” Williams also said. Lawyers for Williams argue that
Justice Barlow, before whom a challenge to the Extradition Treaty was mounted, made an erroneous ruling that Thomas’ protective rights were not violated.
It is the lawyers’ contention that the judge’s ruling is binding on Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus, even if erroneously reasoned.
“The effect of the decision of Justice Barlow determined the inquiry being conducted by the learned Magistrate for reasons, among other things, that the Learned Trial Judge (Barlow) made a finding on identity, which was a live issue before the Learned Magistrate and further made a finding on the existence of the treaty.”
And further, “In light of the decision of Justice Barlow, the learned Magistrate was constrained to arrive at only one finding which is to issue the order for extradition. The effect of the ruling, erroneous as it is, was to remove from the Learned Magistrate the possibility of arriving at any other decision and consequently eroded the right of Marvin Williams to a fair trial.”
According to lawyers for Williams, Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus did not possess the powers to rule on the issue of fair trial and that the issue can only be heard by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
Referencing a recent decision handed down by the Caribbean Court of Justice in the case of McEwan and others v Attorney General of Guyana, also known as the “cross dressing challenge”, the lawyers have further argued that the issue of separation of powers were raised by them in the challenge before Justice Barlow.
The US murder suspect has maintained that he is Marvin Williams and argues that Justice Barlow also erroneously made the ruling that he was Troy Thomas. Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus had ruled that she believed the murder suspect was Troy Thomas, a name he had answered to several times in Court.
Anyway, Williams in the affidavit said that he is a Guyanese citizen and is entitled to protection under the Constitution of Guyana. The murder suspect said that he was arrested on March 14, 2018 at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, on a warrant issued by the Chief Magistrate. He said that even then, he denied being Troy Thomas.
Since 2012, authorities in the United States had issued a wanted bulletin for the murder suspect.
Williams (Thomas) is wanted in the US for the December 11, 2011 murder of 20-year-old Keith Frank, a Guyanese, which occurred in Richmond Hill, New York. Frank, a father of one, who moved from Guyana to the US when he was 12, was shot and killed outside a Richmond Hill, New York party, where he ran into some other men with whom he had an ongoing dispute.
Williams is also wanted for two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. It was reported that he fled to Canada hours after Frank was killed. Williams is also being represented by Senior Counsel Andrew Pollard, Attorneys Elisabeth Deane-Hughes, Kezia Williams, Prithima Kissoon, Jed Vasconcellos, Asa Shepherd-Stuart and Donna Bailey.
In the Fixed Date Application filed by Williams, the Commissioner of Police, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General have been jointly listed as respondents. Until Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan signs off on the extradition, Williams (Troy Thomas) remains in custody of the State.

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