Rhett Fuller turns himself in and faces extradition once again

Rhett Fuller

On August ninth, Rhett Fuller lost his years of battle against extradition. The Privy Council in London dismissed Fuller’s appeal, which essentially means that he could be sent to the United States where he is wanted for a murder that happened in 1989.   Fuller, a businessman, is an inch closer to finding out his fate and tonight he is in custody.  This morning, he surrendered to the Queen Street Police, since his bail expired today. News Five spoke to Fuller’s wife, Ann Marie about what lies ahead for Fuller.

Ann Marie Fuller, Wife of Rhett Fuller

“It wasn’t a decision that we just woke up this morning and decided it, it’s actually a matter of we understood that the bail had expired and thereafter we were waited for the police officers to come and take him into custody as is normal proceedings. However, I guess due to some paper work mistakes or whatever, the delay had taken some time and we were going about our daily business—we were kinda wondering what was happening, but we were thankful at the same time for small mercies. This morning, he spoke to his lawyer and he had asked him what was the situation and mentioned concerns about going forward in the next stages of the case. And his lawyer had mentioned to him that in order to proceed, they would need to process whatever new applications for the bail from now and they were not able to do so unless he was officially detained into custody. So I guess all of that came together and he had said it was probably for the best for him to just go through the procedure and for him to voluntarily go into custody in order for the process to continue. I think that was the main thing that he was thinking about.”

Jose Sanchez

Ann Marie Fuller

“What time did he go in this morning and where is he now?”

Ann Marie Fuller

“He went in this morning around ten o’clock and I believe that he has already been taken up to the Hattieville prison; unfortunately.”

Jose Sanchez

“Is it based on the decision of the Privy Council they are holding him?”

Ann Marie Fuller

“We do not know if the attorney general’s office will grant that. Everything we hope and we pray, but there is always a new application that needs to take place. So for this segment of the process, where the minister will be conducting a hearing, we need to formally apply as per usual that we always do. And we only hope and pray that it will not be opposed—he has never been a flight risk and I think that is the main thing why somebody would be granted bail; if they were suspected of being a flight right. And just the fact that he voluntarily took himself into custody. It shows that he is cooperative and that he is not anyone that is going to run away from the proceedings and I would hope that that would count for something.”

Jose Sanchez

“So at this point you don’t know whether or not he would be allowed to leave?”

Ann Marie Fuller

“No we don’t know. We can’t speculate. We can only hope.”

Eight years after the murder of an American Larry Miller in 1989, the US began seeking his return to the U.S. Fuller has never admitted to wrongdoing but he has been incarcerated several times during the litigation process. Since he lost his appeal at the Privy Council in London, it is now for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington to determine whether or when Fuller will be handed over to the US government.