An Irish American sex offender has been spared extradition to the United States by a British judge who has no faith in the US judicial system.
“America’s most wanted pedophile” as the Daily Mail described him, Shawn Sullivan, fled to Ireland 20 years ago after being charged with raping a 14-year-old girl and molesting two boys in Minnesota.
Now 43, Sullivan was also accused of assaulting two girls in Ireland in 1997 but fled to London after receiving a suspended sentence where police finally caught up with him in June 2010.
Fox News reports that although he did time in Wandsworth Prison for crimes in Britain, a British judge turned down a request from U.S. authorities to have him brought to justice on American soil.
The judge justified his decision on his belief that the U.S. policy of committing repeat child molesters to civil confinement - where they are kept off the streets even after completing prison terms - is too barbaric.
The Fox News report claims that Sullivan is a fugitive and accused pedophile and a poster child for a European judicial system that often would rather let criminals roam their streets freely than see them subjected to American justice.
He served time in England but has escaped the charges in America after an extradition request was refused.
Lord Justice Moses of England’s High Court of Justice said in his ruling in June of last year: “Minnesota’s law is said to be more Draconian than many others.
“It is clear to me that were an order of civil commitment to be made, it would be a flagrant denial of this appellant’s rights.”
Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor who is now managing director of Kroll Advisory Solutions, told FoxNews.com that European courts are increasingly shielding criminals from U.S. penalties they consider too harsh.
Cramer said: “The European courts are starting to view U.S. courts as being so Draconian that it violates human rights.
Read more: Pedophile Shawn Sullivan spared extradition to the US on human rights grounds
“They’ve always felt this way pertaining to death penalty cases, but now we are seeing it more in fraud and sexual abuse cases.”
The Fox News report says that Sullivan’s case is one of several instances in which European courts have substituted their idea of justice for America’s without regard for extradition agreements.
The report highlights the following cases:
- In November, Moses denied extradition for former Iranian Ambassador Nosratollah Tajik, who was arrested in London in a 2006 international sting operation conducted by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents. After six years of delays, Moses discharged Tajik, who was trying to smuggle night vision goggles to Iran, saying extraditing him to the U.S. could hurt relations between the UK and Iran and endanger embassy staff in Tehran.
- A month earlier, Great Britain’s high court also blocked extradition of alleged hacker Gary McKinnon to the U.S., where he is accused of hacking into NASA and Pentagon computers. The ruling cited McKinnon’s battles with Asperger’s Syndrome and depression in determining that imprisonment in the U.S., where he faced up to 70 years in prison, could constitute a violation of his human rights. He is now free.
- In perhaps the most high-profile case of a European court denying U.S. access to a fugitive whose crimes were committed on American soil, filmmaker Roman Polanski avoided extradition from France on charges he raped a 13-year-old girl more than three decades ago. Swiss authorities finally nabbed him in 2010 at the request of U.S. prosecutors, but when it came time to send him to the U.S. to face justice, a judge there overruled it, citing a technicality.
The report adds that under the rule of non-inquiry, nations that have extradition agreements typically are not supposed to second-guess one another on procedures and due process.
Bruce Zagari, an attorney with Washington-based firm Berliner Corcoran & Rowe who specializes in international white collar crime including extradition issues, explained the anomaly to FoxNews.com.
He believes that the policy of civil confinement and the U.S. policy toward detainees at Guantanamo Bay has prompted this new attitude from European judges.
As a result Sullivan, who has been accused of molesting children on two continents and married a British Ministry of Justice worker while in prison, can now roam free so long as he stays out of the U.S.
Zagari said: “The British court has nevertheless denied the U.S. extradition request because of its concern that, if returned, Sullivan would not receive fair treatment because the Minnesota civil commitment program for sex offenders could deprive him of his freedom and fundamental rights if the UK was to extradite him.”
Cramer still believes Sullivan should be brought to justice in the U.S.
He added: “I think any rational person would say that he Sullivan should come back. After all, he absconded.”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.KweenOHearts | Jan 17, 2013, 05:42 PM EST
Aw... too bad for the ranters here he wasn't a Catholic priest. Had that been the case he would have been rotting in jail for the rest of his life, his wife would have been sued into abject poverty, and the lawyers who defended his victims would now be living large on whatever $ he had in his coffers. -- Oh, wait... maybe his wife might have found a few relatives to shuttle him around so he could not be found and continued his pedo-mania! -- Now.. where have I heard that story before???
Portia_O'Neill | Jan 16, 2013, 09:33 AM EST
This is the same justice system that refused to prosecute Jimmy Savile either, so rapist Shawn Sullivan is small potatoes. He also married a British barrister so he's really part of the club.
Searlit | Jan 15, 2013, 07:21 PM EST
Hideous!
Searlit | Jan 15, 2013, 07:21 PM EST
Hideous!
Searlit | Jan 15, 2013, 07:20 PM EST
Absolutely deplorable decision.
PugNation | Jan 15, 2013, 05:05 PM EST
The US should just be pragmatic, and have the federal government and Minnesota strike a deal to remove, for this particular offender, the possibility of civil commitment. Then, when he is extradited, honor that deal and sentence him as previously ordained by the court. Then put him into the jail's general population, naked, wrapped in a London Jack. Merry Christmas from London.
jrobich | Jan 15, 2013, 04:28 PM EST
So I guess the unstated fact is that Ireland is a pedophile-friendly place?
Happyhippo | Jan 15, 2013, 03:42 PM EST
There are more pedophiles per square mile in the UK mostly around the london area than any other place in europe,the so called pillers of society are well represented with a judge and a politician among them,the most notorious being the fund raiser Sir Jimmy Saville and the BBC where it looks like a ring was operating where he worked, who died last year age over 82,despite complaints going back over 60 years he continued to abuse children right up to a few years before he died,with no penalty ever meeted out for his behavour.
Happyhippo | Jan 15, 2013, 03:42 PM EST
There are more pedophiles per square mile in the UK mostly around the london area than any other place in europe,the so called pillers of society are well represented with a judge and a politician among them,the most notorious being the fund raiser Sir Jimmy Saville and the BBC where it looks like a ring was operating where he worked, who died last year age over 82,despite complaints going back over 60 years he continued to abuse children right up to a few years before he died,with no penalty ever meeted out for his behavour.
phinsman | Jan 15, 2013, 03:14 PM EST
Those British are so unaware of how sexual abuse can ruin a person's life. How dare they not extradite him to the US!!! If they don't they should castrate this person.
Silling | Jan 15, 2013, 01:14 PM EST
I think Shawn Sullivan should be introduced to David Walsh who has yet to grow up
dallas75216 | Jan 15, 2013, 01:13 PM EST
Well in Dallas County Texas 180,000 men are jailed each year. there are approx 1,000,000 males in dallas county. So in a 5 year period There is almost a 1 in 1 chance of spending at least a night in county lockup....and I am talking misdemeanor summonses basically it is Calvinism run amok. Then I found out the FEDs pay 400 a day re imbursement for the prisoners. So the prison system has become a cash cow So his Lordship is correct, although I find Sullivan despicable, perhaps some way can be worked out where he could do his time in a London Gaol (jail)
eiriamach | Jan 15, 2013, 01:10 PM EST
Whenever you're tempted to consider European sentencing of criminals too lenient, try to recall the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act--still the law in Ireland. Article 58 requires that "Every woman being with child, who with intent to procure her own miscarriage shall unlawfully administer to herself any poison or other noxious thing, ... shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable ... to be kept in penal servitude for life." Lenient? Not for women!
ray bass | Jan 15, 2013, 12:27 PM EST
Too barbaric !??? For a child molester ? He deserves life in prison. The barbarism exists in allowing a rightfully convicted sex offender out of jail.
Nicopernicus | Jan 15, 2013, 11:47 AM EST
Funny how Americans complain that we are too lenient on criminals, seems every time you turn the corner someones complaining here about a judge who was not stern enough and the perp returns yet again for a similar crime..Its like following the Yo-Yo of public perceptions.
The Commentator | Jan 15, 2013, 11:12 AM EST
This is pedophile. Sound like the judge may be of the same ilk as Sullivan. The reasoning that the American justice system is inferior to the British system is rather snobbish. Perhaps he should invite the victims and their relatives to come to England and turn Sullivan over to them so they can punish him. That would solve a lot of issues: he wouldn't remain locked up and he wouldn't be able to rape anyone ever again. Just saying !!!
TisEyerish | Jan 15, 2013, 11:08 AM EST
Americans are fed-up with our judicial system, as well, but for much different reasons. We believe that child molesters should be imprisoned for LIFE because there is no "cure" for them...therapy doesn't work. Did the judge who made this ruling take into consideration the future victims of the pedophile? What about THEIR right to live a normal life, something they will never have again after they have been molested.
CavanAncestor | Jan 15, 2013, 10:56 AM EST
The judge acted outside the scope of his judicial responsibility and the mandates of the US-UK Ectradition Treat. The petson demanded was a US citizen and the crime alleged would rise to the same level of gravity in both countries. The individual's repeated conduct and convictions resolved any issue the demand was frivolous. He's out of line both in his decision and given the Brits' own system, lecturing the US. More victims await this predator. Maybe he'll kill his next victim to conceal the crime
Eschetic | Jan 15, 2013, 10:41 AM EST
It IS a complex and, as some of the more intemperate "lock-em-up" posts below indicate, emotional issue. One wants to stick up for the U.S. judicial system, but Justice Moses may have had a fair point: after appointees from the Nixon, Reagan and Bush-the-Lesser administrations, it will take two decades before we can restore objective quality administration on such "hot button issues." In general we rely on our press (with the exception of Fox "News" and the New York Post - long bought out by extremists of the right wing who will do anything to exploit sexual or other scandals - ANY report using Fox "News" as its main source is suspect to any objective reader) to report in a more unbiased manner than their British tabloid brethren, but for the moment our judiciary is struggling to regain its traditional standards and balance.
PhlutiePhan | Jan 15, 2013, 09:42 AM EST
This is a very complex issue. The "sex and violence" themes of the American media have "unloosed the gods of war". It now appears that pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated. You need to catch this aberration at a young age. That is why it is so tragic that the American mental health system has been dismantled to save money. The system had been based on a European model. The "freedom of expression" attitude in the states has led to right to exploit children. There have been many stories of child actors who had been exploited by the industry. Heidi Fleiss was an infamous madam who catered to furnishing underage girls to the rich. There are even allegations that Charlie Sheen was one of her clients. She was quickly found guilty of lesser crimes. The McMartin preschool case in California of long ago was quickly solved and child witnesses luaghed at and the csse went away.
greengurl | Jan 15, 2013, 09:33 AM EST
He is a pedophile. He is sexually attracted to children. Who protects the children he molests? Get him off the streets.
fmcevoy | Jan 15, 2013, 09:29 AM EST
But the U.S. has the best justice system money can buy!
pilib04 | Jan 15, 2013, 09:00 AM EST
Sounds like this Brit Judge is working for the Vatican or one of our American Bishops.
JimmieM | Jan 15, 2013, 08:34 AM EST
All very nice and good "feeling" but what about childrens rights to innocence?
Jacob | Jan 15, 2013, 08:34 AM EST
Child molesting is barbaric. Keeping an eye on paedophiles so they don't re-offend is not barbaric. Get a grip.