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Rhett Fuller applies for bail ahead of Court of Appeal hearing

GeneralRhett Fuller applies for bail ahead of Court of Appeal hearing
This afternoon before Justice Adolph Lucas, businessman and murder suspect in the United States, Rhett Fuller, 42, appeared with attorney Eamon Courtenay, SC, seeking bail for the third time as he begins his 14th year fighting extradition to the U.S. to be tried for the murder of Larry Miller, which took place in Miami, Florida, in 1990.
  
Last November, Justice Samuel Awich denied Fuller’s request for judicial review of the decision of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred Elrington, to allow his extradition in the best interests of Belize, a decision which is being appealed to the Court of Appeal.
  
Courtenay told Amandala that the records had not been confirmed before the Registrar of the Court, so a projected hearing during the first session of the Court for this year, in March, is uncertain at this time.
  
But until then, he sought bail on the grounds that Fuller deserves his freedom as any normal citizen is entitled to under the law, while awaiting the determination of his case.
  
Courtenay argued that points in Fuller’s favour were that, after the Privy Council denied his appeal last year, and acting on the basis that authorities would move to immediately extradite him rather than wait for the Minister’s decision, he turned himself in to authorities and has remained behind bars ever since.
  
Also, said Courtenay, his client has “faithfully upheld the conditions of his bail” and his circumstances – a successful business, marriage to Ann-Marie Fuller and fatherhood – had not changed. He also stated that the Government as respondent, rather than his client, had the burden of proof in this matter.
  
While acknowledging that the Government had not opposed bail in the first two applications, in 2002 and 2009, Crown Counsel Magali Perdomo explained to the court that there were no exceptional circumstances that had changed, and that while the court had its own discretion, it would be wise to exercise “caution” and grant bail for more than “personal reasons,” which, she charged, Fuller had failed to present to the court in his submission.
  
Perdomo cited a Caribbean case which she said had similar circumstances to this one, in which the judge rejected the request for bail citing that the inconvenience of the accused does not trump the public interest, and is of no significance in determining whether he should be granted bail when at the “endgame” of proceedings.
  
She again cited the effect of Belize’s international treaty obligations and reminded the court of the severity of Fuller’s alleged crimes, which, according to his indictment, include armed robbery and attempted murder.
  
To that, Courtenay replied that the Crown had shown no evidence which justifies the continued deprivation of his client’s personal liberty.
  
Justice Lucas will give his decision on February 21, 2012, and ordered Fuller remanded pending that decision.
 

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