PRINCIPAL Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Friday ordered that A United States (U.S.) fugitive Troy Anthony Thomas be extradited to face a charge of murder in that country.

Thomas, of 32nd Street, South Ozone Park, Queens, New York, U.S.A., had tried to fight the extradition. He was represented by Attorneys Nigel Hughes, Bernard Da Silva and Darren Wade. The attorneys contended that the defendant was not Troy Anthony Thomas, but Marvin Williams.

However, the magistrate in her ruling noted that the defendant signed police and court documents as Troy Thomas. In court, he also answers to Troy Thomas; additionally, U.S. court documents revealed that his date of birth matches the same he gave the local court.

The magistrate highlighted that there is a valid extradition treaty between the United States and Guyana; and she stated that Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York had made this ruling in the case against Guyanese Marcus Bisram, who too had tried to fight off being extradited here to face a murder charge .
The United States signed an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom on December 22, 1931, while Guyana was under the United Kingdom’s control and the treaty remained in effect after Guyana obtained its independence from the United Kingdom. It was noted too that the United States Executive Branch has unambiguously stated that it considers the treaty to be in effect.

However, the magistrate explained that Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has the final say as to whether Thomas is to be extradited. The police had said that an intelligence-led operation which commenced on January 31, 2018, resulted in the arrest of Thomas who allegedly murdered Keith Frank on December 11, 2011.
Keith Frank, who had moved to Queens from Guyana at age 12, died shortly before his 21st birthday. The New York Police Department suspected that Thomas shot him once in the torso at around 4:45 a.m. Dec. 11, 2011. At the time, Frank’s daughter was just eight months old. Thomas had fled the U.S. after an arrest warrant was issued for him