Guaman fled to his native Ecuador using a false passport hours after the bodies were found in a trash bin. Ecuadoran officials soon arrested him and prosecuted him for the document fraud, but he completed his prison sentence last month. Although the Ecuadoran constitution forbids extradition of its own citizens, prosecutors have repeatedly said they would try him for the killings in Ecuador if the United States would send evidence.
Before Guaman could be released, an Ecuadoran prosecutor persuaded the Third Criminal Court of Cuenca on Oct. 14 to keep him in jail for six more months to gather evidence. If the United States fails to send evidence, the government said, it will be impossible to prosecute him.
“We want to see him brought to justice,’’ an Ecuadoran government spokesman said yesterday, declining to be named because the matter is being handled through diplomatic channels. “She was an Ecuadoran national and she and her son were murdered. We want to see justice done.’’
Plymouth County officials have refused to send evidence and have called on US officials to intensify pressure on Ecuador to extradite him to the United States, where he would face stiffer penalties if convicted, such as life in prison, compared with a maximum of 25 years in Ecuador.
Yesterday, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz again rejected the request to send evidence. Cruz said he believes that, despite the constitutional ban, Ecuador could use a preexisting extradition treaty with the United States to send Guaman to Massachusetts.
“My position remains the same. This is not their case,’’ said Cruz, who had not seen the letter. “This has nothing to do with Ecuador except that this is where this man fled.’’
Cruz, who has called for the United States to consider economic and trade sanctions against Ecuador unless officials turn over Guaman, pointed to Guaman’s passport-fraud prosecution as an example of judicial uncertainty in Ecuador. Prosecutors had said that Guaman could face several years in jail for the crime, but instead he was sentenced to a few months.
Cruz said he should be prosecuted where the crime occurred.
