Canadian Extradition Hearing for Ng Delayed

Charles Ng, sought by California in a string of grisly sex-torture slayings, will likely remain jailed in Canada for several months before facing an extradition hearing on 12 capital murder charges, his lawyer said.

Ng, 25, has been in Canadian custody for almost 20 months, but a formal U.S. extradition request did not reach the Canadian capital of Ottawa until last Wednesday.

Besides the murder counts, the extradition request lists two charges of conspiracy to murder, six of kidnaping, two of conspiracy to kidnap and several other lesser charges.

Donald MacLeod, Ng’s Canadian lawyer, said Friday the extradition request included more than 800 pages of documentation. Because of the complexity of the evidence, the extradition hearing could take several months to arrange.

Hearing by Fall

“We don’t really expect a hearing until the fall at the earliest,” MacLeod said from his office in the Alberta city of Calgary. In Ottawa, Canadian Justice Department lawyer Donald Avison said he would take a “period of time” to read the extradition documents before transferring them to Alberta. A hearing would then be scheduled before a Calgary judge, who would rule whether there is a prima facie case on any or all of the charges.

MacLeod said the hearing, once scheduled, would likely take more than a month to conclude.

If sufficient evidence is found to extradite Ng, the judge and the Canadian government must then face the thorny issue of capital punishment. According to the Canadian-U.S. extradition agreement, the Canadian government has the right to refuse to extradite a fugitive who faces the death penalty.

The Canadian government abolished capital punishment 11 years ago, although recent public opinion polls have shown a large majority of Canadians believe it should be reinstated. Canada’s Parliament is expected to vote on reinstatement within a year.

Similar Case in 1984

In 1984 MacLeod attempted to block the extradition of another U.S. man, wanted in Seattle for the massacre of 13 people at a Chinatown gambling club. In that case, MacLeod dropped his extradition fight when U.S. authorities reduced the charges to ones that did not demand the death penalty.

Ng, a native of Hong Kong, became the focus of an international manhunt in June, 1985, when his friend Leonard Lake committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill while in police custody.

A subsequent search of Lake’s mountain cabin, about 150 miles east of San Francisco, uncovered 11 bodies, 45 pounds of charred bones, weapons, bloody tools and videotapes of sexual torture in a chamber concealed inside a shed.

On July 6, 1985, Canadian police apprehended Ng after a foiled shoplifting attempt at a downtown Calgary department store.