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USA: ITALY MAY EXTRADITE MIGUEL TORRES
March 22, 2013: Italy could hasten Miguel Torres' return to U.S. to face trial, source says.
Torres was arrested last Friday by police in Bologna, Italy, where he had been living and working as a domestic for an elderly couple.
He is being held in an Italian prison pending an extradition hearing, which by Italian law must begin within 40 days of his arrest.
An Italian judge then has up to one year to decide whether Torres will be returned to Berks County to face trial or be allowed to remain in Italy.
Torres is charged with first-degree murder in the 2005 death of his wife Barbara J. West-Torres, which can carry the death penalty here. However, since Torres allegedly was in Italy under the assumed name Rene Rondon, the Italian government could choose to skip the extradition process and simply deport him, a U.S. State Department source told the Reading Eagle on condition of anonymity.
Italian law holds that extradition will not be granted to death penalty states, or to states that might torture the defendant for political, religious or other reasons.
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams already has said that, to hasten the extradition process, he will not seek the death penalty. Meanwhile, no information about Torres' case is being released by the U.S. Justice Department. (Sources: readingeagle.com, 22/03/2013)
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