Ala. Court Won’t Halt Extradition of Prince in Killings

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied a bid to halt the extradition of a man accused of fatally stabbing five women in two San Diego neighborhoods.

The ruling Tuesday leaves Cleophus Prince Jr. with one last chance to fight his return to San Diego to face murder charges in connection with the stabbing deaths of five women in Clairemont and University City last year.

Prince, who has been in custody in Birmingham, Ala., since his arrest there March 3, now can appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court to request that his extradition be stopped.

Prince’s attorney in San Diego, Loren Mandel, said he isn’t sure if Prince will appeal Tuesday’s ruling.

“If he appeals, and the Supreme Court denies it, he probably will be sent back immediately to San Diego and then arraigned one or two days later,” Mandel said. “I think they are anxious to get him back here and into court.”

Prince, 23, is being held without bond in Jefferson County Jail on a fugitive-from-justice charge in the stabbing deaths of Tiffany Paige Shultz, 20; Janene Weinhold, 21; Holly Tarr, 18, and Pamela Gail Clark, 43, and her 18-year-old daughter, Amber. The women were fatally stabbed in their homes between January and September, 1990.

The appeals court halted extradition proceedings May 6 while considering an earlier appeal that alleged the extradition warrants were invalid because they failed to distinguish between Prince and his father.

“It was unforeseeable to me that (the appeals court) would rule any other way,” said Jefferson County prosecutor Bill Neumann. “There’s no question that this was the person who was the suspect in the San Diego slayings.”

Although the appellate court has lifted that stay, authorities in Birmingham doubt that Prince will be released before he is given the chance to file his last appeal.

San Diego police began focusing on Prince in connection with the slayings in early February, after he allegedly tried to burglarize a woman’s apartment in the Scripps Ranch area.

Authorities took blood samples from Prince while he was in custody in San Diego County on a traffic warrant. He was released before the results returned and left for his hometown of Birmingham to visit relatives.

Authorities tracked him down there and arrested him again in March. Prosecutors in San Diego have also filed special-circumstance allegations against Prince that could lead to the death penalty.