Nation : Youth Extradited Despite Death Ban
A judge today ordered a 17-year-old youth returned to Alabama, rejecting arguments that his extradition to face a possible death sentence would violate the District of Columbia’s ban on capital punishment.
“Nothing in the Constitution or elsewhere grants the District of Columbia the power to enforce beyond its borders the district’s moral opposition to the death penalty,” Superior Court Judge Stephen F. Eilperin said.
Eilperin gave Alabama authorities until May 1 to pick up the 17-year-old, identified only by the initials O.M., who is accused of arson and murder in a firebombing last May.
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