The extradition hearings against Andrew 'Pawpa' Brown and his brother Floyd Brown continued this afternoon in the Belize City Magistrate's Court.
Yesterday, Brown's lead attorney Dean Barrow argued that there was a defect in the extradition request from the United States and that the defect was fatal. Well today the chief Magistrate had prepared a four page decision on that application, but it wasn't needed; the Solicitor General today fixed it by including the request for extradition.
With that Barrow and Brown's legal team of 'Dickie' Bradley and Ellis Arnold had to move on to their next preliminary challenge, and that is that the man identified in the extradition order as Joswant Brown is misidentified and is not Floyd Brown. Barrow explained the argument to us when he left court.
Dean Barrow, Attorney for Brown Brothers
"We are now engaged in having the court decide whether Floyd Brown is in fact the person that the U.S. papers identify as Joswant Brown. We feel that the Magistrate needs to look at the photograph, which we don't think is a likeness of Floyd Brown, and has to look at other particulars supplied by the U.S. substantiating the date of birth and so on, and decide whether those particulars correspond with the objective particulars of Floyd Brown which we are hoping to put in evidence."
Jules Vasquez,
So it is sort of if it does not fit you must acquit, that kind of argument?
Dean Barrow,
[Chuckles] "I suppose."
The Chief Magistrate will make his judegment on the identity issue on Thursday after which the extradition hearing will proceed. Until then the Browns remain on remand at the Hattieville Prison.