Britain’s Prince Andrew speaks to the media throughout Sunday service on the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Windsor Nice Park, Britain following Friday’s dying of his father Prince Philip at age 99, April 11, 2021. Steve Parsons/PA Wire/Pool by way of REUTERS
Steve Parsons/PA Wire/Pool by way of REUTERS
On the morning of his 66th birthday, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the person previously generally known as Prince Andrew, was arrested by police in the UK. The arrest got here on the heels of the discharge of three million pages of Epstein recordsdata, which have reignited scrutiny of Andrew’s long-documented ties to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The recordsdata paint a horrifying image — younger ladies and women exploited, trafficked, and silenced for many years. For the survivors who’ve waited years for accountability, the query is pressing and deeply private: Might the US truly extradite Prince Andrew and check out him for his alleged crimes on U.S. soil?
One Republican senator, Rick Scott of Florida, has already referred to as for Andrew to face trial in the US. However Andrew is not any bizarre Briton — he’s the King’s brother and eighth in line to the British throne. Is it even doable for him to be extradited?
The brief reply is sure. Though diplomats and heads of state take pleasure in broad immunity from legal prosecution, King Charles stripped Andrew of all his royal titles in October. No matter protections his royal place as soon as afforded him, they not apply. Even the U.Okay.’s Prime Minister has referred to as for him to testify earlier than the U.S. Congress about his ties to Epstein.
So what hurdles stay? First, and most significantly, Andrew has not but been charged with any crime. The lawsuit introduced towards Andrew by Virginia Giuffre, which settled in 2022, was civil, not legal. However there are 93 U.S. Lawyer’s workplaces throughout the nation, and any of them may very well be wanting into Andrew proper now—significantly the workplace within the Southern District of New York, the place Andrew visited Epstein’s mansion, or the workplace within the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place Giuffre alleges she met with Andrew on Epstein’s Island, Little St. James. (Andrew denies seeing Giuffre on the island, though he admits he visited Epstein there.)
How would extradition work in apply? If U.S. prosecutors have been to cost Andrew, an preliminary request to start extradition proceedings would land earlier than a federal Justice of the Peace decide. That decide doesn’t determine whether or not Andrew is responsible. The decide asks solely a handful of slim questions: Is there a treaty between the 2 nations? Does the alleged crime match inside it? Is there sufficient proof to recommend Andrew dedicated a criminal offense? Andrew’s legal professionals could be entitled at that listening to to authorized arguments saying he was protected by a provision within the treaty, however the bar for extradition to proceed at that stage is low.
If the U.S. decide approves extradition, the ultimate name on whether or not to make a request to the U.Okay. to start extradition belongs to not a courtroom, however to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That is the place diplomatic considerations come into the equation. The Trump Administration might determine to not threat demanding that America’s closest ally hand over the King’s brother.
If Rubio makes a proper extradition request, that doesn’t assure that the particular person will probably be extradited. Andrew might battle his extradition by way of British Courts, all the best way as much as the U.Okay.’s inside minister, generally known as the Residence Secretary. That course of can take years and is finally a political query the British authorities should determine.
Alongside the best way, Andrew might increase a number of authorized points, together with the requirement within the U.S.-U.Okay. treaty of “dual criminality,” which implies that the alleged crime have to be a criminal offense in each nations. To ascertain twin criminality, each nations don’t must have similar legal guidelines: simply legal guidelines that cowl the identical primary conduct. If prosecutors charged Andrew below America’s intercourse trafficking statute, Britain’s personal legal guidelines towards sexual exploitation would nearly definitely fulfill this check.
Andrew would possibly profit from a current change in U.Okay. legislation. Earlier final 12 months, the U.Okay. Supreme Court docket dominated in a case referred to as El-Khouri that Britain can refuse to extradite somebody to the US when the alleged crime occurred fully on British soil. If a lot of what Andrew is accused of occurred in the UK, moderately than in the US, his legal professionals would nearly definitely use this ruling to battle any US extradition request.
Time can also be a possible hurdle for prosecutors. Giuffre mentioned she was sexually abused round 2001, when she was a youngster. Most crimes have a deadline for prosecution which is named a statute of limitations. However below U.S. legislation, when the sufferer of intercourse trafficking is a toddler, there is no such thing as a statute of limitations. Meaning prosecutors might convey costs towards Andrew at present for conduct that allegedly occurred in 2001. Andrew would possibly argue that the alleged conduct occurred too way back to help extradition, however below the U.S.-U.Okay. treaty, the related query is the statute of limitations within the requesting nation, so prosecutors ought to prevail on that time.
The final hurdle could be the U.Okay. authorities itself. Though King Charles mentioned this week that “the law must take its course,” extradition would solely go ahead if the British authorities agreed to extradite the King’s brother. If that occurred, the particular relationship between the U.S. and Britain would face a problem not like something it has ever seen.
Jonathan Baum and Pleasure Holden are legal professionals on the Washington, D.C. legislation agency Harris Wiltshire & Grannis LLP. Baum was a member of the trial workforce that efficiently defended Autonomy founder Mike Lynch after his extradition to the US from the UK. Holden previously served as a Trial Lawyer at United States Division of Justice, Civil Rights Division.
