Attn: Murderers, Rapists, Nazi War Criminals and Pot Smokers,
you cannot escape the long arm
of the law.
flw
1. Exemplary Citizen to be Extradited on 25 Year-Old $10
Marijuana Conviction
[NOTE TO OUR READERS: We present this story as it poses an
interesting ethical question. Is escape an ethical response
to a conviction under a bad policy? Even if the convicted
would have served only three months time? And should
twenty-five years of exemplary life cause a prosecutor to
choose not to seek the return of such an escapee? It is, in
the end, the odd outcome of a flawed system, and we offer
here the perspectives of the attorneys on either side.]
Alfred Martin will be heading back to Virginia after a
Michigan court ordered him extradited on charges that he
walked away from a one year prison sentence in 1974.
(Martin was sentenced to ten years, but all but one year of
the sentence was suspended.) Martin had been sentenced for
selling $10 worth of marijuana to a co-worker, and now faces
charges of escape, as well as theft by conversion for
failing to complete payments on a stereo and a television
that he had bought on installment shortly before his
original arrest and conviction.
Martin, a broker for the Mortgage Company of Michigan, had
led "an exemplary life since his conviction," according to
Judge William Callahan, who nevertheless ruled in favor of
the state of Virginia. Callahan also said that Martin and
his family had been "a credit to the state" during their
twenty-five years in Michigan.
Virginia had tried once before to have Martin extradited, in
1976. At that time, then-Governor William Milikan granted
him legal asylum in Michigan. Since that time, however,
several Supreme Court rulings have supported the rights of
states to retrieve persons from other states regardless of
the circumstances.
Gregory R. Neidle, Martin's attorney, told The Week Online,
"the prosecutor (Joan Ziglar of Martinsville, VA) materially
misrepresented Mr. Martin's situation both to the Governor
of Virginia and to the Michigan court. There was no
indication in any of her papers that my client had
previously fought this for three years resulting in the
granting of asylum. Legally, therefore, we believe that Mr.
Martin has been wrongly extradited. >From the standpoint of
justice, he is a man who had no record prior to his arrest
twenty-five years ago, and he's had no record since he's
arrived in Michigan. He's a mortgage broker, a successful
man, with a wife of twenty-six years and three children.
There is absolutely no reasonable justification for sending
Alfred Martin back to prison."
Joan Ziglar has been the prosecutor in the town of
Martinsville, population 16,000, for just under a year.
Martinsville, she says, has a serious drug problem, in part
due to its midpoint status between New York and Florida.
According to Ziglar, approximately 70% of her cases are
either directly or indirectly drug-related. She spoke with
The Week Online:
WOL: Mr. Martin walked away from his sentence almost twenty-
five years ago. Why, after all this time, did you decide to
pursue this case?
Ziglar: When I was first elected, I sat down with my staff
to discuss our priorities. One of those priorities was to
pursue extradition of felons who had fled the jurisdiction.
Mr. Martin fits that description and when the state of
Michigan notified us that they had stopped him, I reopened
his file just like I would for any other fugitive. I would
also mention that unlike other extradition cases, where
someone has fled before trial, Mr. Martin had been convicted
here. He had escaped from detention.
WOL: But even the judge in Michigan commented that he had
led an exemplary life there. What do you hope to accomplish
by putting him back in jail?
Ziglar: Well, there are others here who are awaiting trial,
and I want them all to know that if you run, no matter how
far or long, we will come after you. So you might as well
stay and take your medicine now. I also believe that we
have to send a message that we will fight drugs, even
marijuana. America is fed up with drugs, and I believe that
it is my job to fight for a safer America.
WOL: So now he will face his original sentence plus two
others, right?
Ziglar: Mr. Martin faces a maximum of five years for his
escape, and a maximum of twenty years for the felony theft-
by conversion charge. I would add that while he had
originally been sentenced to two five year terms, all but
six months of each of those had been suspended. And, going
by the parole rules in 1974, he would have only served a
total of three months of that year. Today, under truth in
sentencing, he would have had to serve 85% of that year.
WOL: And will you seek the maximum?
Ziglar: Other than cases such as murder, I never ask for a
specific sentence. I will argue to the jury that Mr. Martin
is guilty of the charges, and that he should be punished
appropriately. I will leave it to the jury to make the
determination on what that may be.
ACTION ITEM: If you have an opinion on this case, take a
moment to send a letter to one of the Virginia newspapers
listed below. You might want to mention that incarcerating
Mr. Martin, who clearly poses no danger to anyone, will cost
the taxpayers of Virginia upwards of $30,000 per year.
Letters to the Editor
Editorial Pages
Box 85333
Richmond,VA 23293
fax: (804) 775-8090
Letters to the Editor
Virginia Pilot
P.O. Box 449
Norfolk, VA 23501-0449
fax: (757) 446-2051
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Progress Index
15 Franklin
Petersburg, VA 23803
Please send us copies of your letters, to: DRCNet, 2000 P
St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036, fax to (202) 293-
8344, or e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED].
