Posted on 03/27/2023 7:15:36 PM PDT by simpson96
An Irishman extradited from the US to England to face charges over a bar brawl 43 years ago, only to be acquitted, has described the saga as a 'nightmare'.
Rory McGrath was at his home in New York in May 2021 when US marshals raided his house and arrested him.
The Marshal Service was acting on the behalf of British police who had been seeking Mr McGrath for more than four decades.
Rory McGrath is back with his family in New York. Following his arrest, he spent 14 months under house arrest in New York and was eventually extradited to England last year. He was jailed in Leeds for over seven months before his trial began.
The 64-year-old, who has retired from the construction industry, had been living in New York since 1986 and was married by 1990.
He was wanted to face charges relating to the assault of a police officer in March 28, 1980.
Mr McGrath told the BBC he was just 21 when he got involved in a drunken row with another group of young men.
He said he fled to a nearby pub. However, he was not charged in relation to that fight. Instead, British prosecutors alleged he was involved with a group of men who attacked a policeman breaking the officer's nose in the process - something Mr McGrath denies.
The father-of-two is now back with his family in the US and said the whole saga has had a 'devastating' impact on him and his family.
He said: 'There are multiple victims here. It's been very stressful for everybody. It was a nightmare. It's like Ground Zero - I don't care to think about it, but it's always going to be there.'
(snip)
Last month, a jury found him not guilty of the charges and he was released. Local media reported at the time that, following the verdict, the trial judge said: 'We have worse things to deal with, if I can put it that way.'
His family had started a fundraising account to raise cash for his legal defence.
At the time, his family wrote: 'He has been separated from his wife and two sons, taken from his home, denied his right to a fair and speedy trial and amassed massive amounts of legal debt in the process.
'Rory is also confined in his cell for approximately 23 of the 24 hours in the day.
'He has had multiple requests to be present at his hearings ignored and he has had his trial date postponed on numerous occasions.
'Rory is not a danger to society in any capacity and deserves better treatment than this.
'Rory's basic rights have not been granted and his treatment may constitute prosecutorial misconduct.
'He did not request any deals or settlements as he wishes to clear his name of these charges, despite how the justice system has treated him thus far.'
No statute of limitations?
The Irishman is the Florida man of the UK.
Forty years to prep the case and promptly lost.
No wonder they are being overrun with muzz.
.
The Marshal Service was acting on the behalf of British police who had been seeking Mr McGrath for more than four decades.
Ah, priorities.
Nothing else worse going on for either group to see to, it seems.
Usually statute of limitations in most laws of that sort provides that time -stops- when you flee the jurisdiction. Otherwise it turns statute of limitations into a game of hide and seek. It is actually meant that the state must bring charges in a timely manner, not that you hid well enough.
For a poke in the nose? Don’t they have a few mohammedans to follow around?
Or knives to ban, for all the citizenry.
No statute of limitations?
That’s correct. It’s called “tolling” the statute.
“Why do the Irish always fight amongst themselves?
“There are no other worthy opponents!”
He said he fled to a nearby pub. However, he was not charged in relation to that fight. Instead, British prosecutors alleged he was involved with a group of men who attacked a policeman breaking the officer's nose in the process - something Mr McGrath denies.
After all that effort to capture this man and the Brits screw-up over which police officer he punched. What a bonehead mistake.
I think the statute of limitations no longer exists under the Biden occupation. I’ve been routinely getting letters in the mail from debt collectors saying I owe $2000 from a Wells Fargo loan back in 2006. When I mail them proof it was paid off it ends up in the hands of another debt collector and the process repeats. Never mind that it was paid off, the fact that it’s 17 years old and well past the statute of limitations is completely ignored.
YOU win the thread.
I guess you should resign to the fact that you are a scofflaw.
IIRC when you “flee the jurisdiction” the “clock” stops.
He’s a foreign national. Nothing in the article about American citizenship.
This is on the Brits and a major failure on the part of the Irish government for not looking out for one of its own.
One can only hope that if the tables were turned - an American arrested abroad for extradition to a 3rd country - that our government would be there.
I don’t harbor said hope.
The Kingdom of Transgendria.
How could it have been so difficult to find a pugnacious Irishman?
I mean: Couldn't the police simply put out a A.P.B. for a "brawling Irishman?"
Regards,
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