Following Entry Posted 4/22/2008 11:05:00 AM

U.S. Attorney Blows Human Smuggling Case

The U.S. Attorney in Maine is being accused of non-responsiveness by a Canadian Provincial Court. As a result, prosecution of three alleged human smugglers didn't happen. I'm not surprised. Whether it's a lack of resources or a lack of will, the feds are regularly dropping the ball on border security.

ST. STEPHEN, New Brunswick -- Three Charlotte County men who last year allegedly attempted to smuggle two people from Guyana into the United States were set free last week after a New Brunswick Provincial Court judge ruled that U.S. law enforcement officials apparently didn’t have their act together, according to a Canadian newspaper.

Charged in connection with the smuggling incident were John Wayne Richardson, 48, his son John Jason Richardson, 22, and Byron Lawson Murray, 57, all of St. Stephen. They could have faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

According to the St. Croix Courier Weekend newspaper of St. Stephen, the three defendants were charged in January 2007 with conspiring to break American law by allegedly attempting to smuggle two Guyanese nationals into the U.S.

A problem developed in the case when Canadian legal officials attempted to get a U.S. attorney to appear in court in St. Stephen to testify about the law in question.

The requests for the U.S. attorney to testify were made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between Canada and the U.S., which seeks "to improve the effectiveness of judicial assistance and to regularize and facilitate" procedures between the two countries, according to the U.S. State Department’s Web site.

Well, guess what? The U.S. Attorney's Office didn't provide a person to "regularize and facilitate" so the Provincial Court Judge dismissed the case.

Great! In return for all the time and resources spent on catching human smugglers, we get apparent ineptitude by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the smugglers (alleged) go free.

All is not lost, though, maybe something good will result. Senator Susan Collins has asked her staff to pound on some desks and get answers about why the U.S. Attorney failed to be responsive.

By the way, the Canadian-Guyanese smuggling operation has been linked to a ring of Guyanese girls going wild as prostitutes. I've read that they are very popular in Northeastern cities.

Also worth mentioning is that Byron Murray's wife, Savita Singh-Murray was convicted of human smuggling back in 2005 and sentenced to time served, 132 days.

Also: Diggers Realm
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