Rhett Fuller’s wife says 20 year trial has been rough
The highly publicized extradition appeal by Rhett Fuller has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal and Fuller is behind bars pending a bail application. His attorney, Eamon Courtenay, is not giving up and has said they are prepared to go to the Privy Council if so required. While his fate is up in the air, there is another dimension in this long running case. For fifteen of the twenty years, Ann Marie Fuller, Rhett’s wife, has held strong by his side with undying faith that his case would be successful and she says that while he did “screw up”, he didn’t kill anyone. According to Ann Marie, who appeared on this morning’s Open Your Eyes show, it has been hard living with the possibility of losing her husband, and the most difficult issue is facing their three kids; ages seven, three and eight months and knowing what to say, especially to the curious seven year old.
Ann Marie Fuller, Rhett Fuller’s Wife
“When I came home that day without his dad, the first thing he did was he just greeted me with these big bright, happy eyes and said mom did he win? Did he win? Is dad gonna be okay? I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow and just based on that alone, I can go on everyday. I have a lot of hope that this is not going to turn out bad. We have to go through the process but my belief is that ultimately things are going to work out. Maybe there are gonna be some moments or some time lapses in between where we’re gonna be apart but it can’t be forever. At least I’m hoping it’s not gonna be forever, which is why we really have to fight because the grounds of the extradition is first degree murder and I just wanted to explain a little bit to the public about the Florida felony murder rule. I looked it up and there are only two sentences for that: one is life in prison with no possibility of parole and the second is the death penalty. Rhett is not an American citizen, he’s a foreigner. Who’s to say they’ll want to waste tax payers’ dollars in keeping him in a prison in the U.S.? They might just say you know what we can give him the death penalty so let’s just do that. The first time it was a bit different, it was just him alone and I was there with him but we weren’t married as yet. So on my side it was easier because I had no other responsibilities so I could have given my all to just dealing with him and trying to make him comfortable. This case is different, I have my kids to deal with and I still have to work and my main breadwinner is gone and I still have my mortgage to pay, I still have my kids to feed. So I’ve had to just plunge into his really big shoes and just try and hold everything together and it’s been really hard.”
Ann Marie says there are ongoing efforts in the U.S. to have the Florida felony murder rule repealed and she hopes that can be done soon enough to help Rhett’s case. Rhett is alleged to have been connected to the 1990 murder of Florida resident, Larry Miller.
