Louis Timoll. - Ian Allen/Photographer

More than two decades after Louis Timoll was charged with a narcotics offence in the United States, he was extradited to that country only to have an American judge send him back home.

In November 1985, Timoll, who at the time was selling yams in the 'Big Apple', and four other men were implicated in a marijuana bust.

The 62-year-old Old Harbour, St Catherine, native told our news team that because the marijuana was not found in his possession at the time of the bust, the distribution and possession charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to export marijuana. That was a decision the now grey-headed Timoll said he regrets, because years later, his local lawyers advised him that the case against him was weak.

Shortly after making bail, he fled the US and came back to Jamaica in 1986 without attending his sentencing hearing. Just like that Timoll became a fugitive.

'Not done properly'

According to him, his decision to abscond was spawned by the scary possibility of spending up to 15 years behind bars in the US.

"When I heard about that I said you know what happen, I am not ready for any 15 years, so I came home," he said.

Timoll, who believes the "extradition thing needs a review" because "it was not done properly", said the federal judge he faced in New York after he was extradited asked him why was he sent back to the United States after so long.

"The judge gave me time served. She wanted to know why they sent me back because due to the nature of my case, she didn't see why they sent me back," he explained.

"Mr Timoll, I am going to send you over to Immigration and send you home," Timoll added as he recalled the words of the judge that made him do a back-flip and a somersault in his heart.

Timoll believes the Jamaican judges erred in extraditing him. According to him, if the judges did their homework they would not have sent him back to the US.

Deported

"One of the things I want to lament on is that the judges in the Appeal Court did not just sent me home. Even the lawyer up there asked why they sent me back. The judges here don't want to hear anything as long as they hear extradition with the US. They don't give the people out here any chance," he said.

Timoll was arrested in November 2003 and was extradited four years later. After spending eight months in the American system, he was deported to Jamaica. He said the judge explained that she would have given him three years for the charge and one year for absconding bail; a total of four years, which equates to the amount of time he spent behind bars in Jamaica while challenging the order to have him extradited.

The self-styled businessman is the founder of the Old Harbour Fish and Bammy Festival - a venture he started in 2000 before he was extradited to the US. He is now trying his hand at producing sorrel.

Timoll urges that the local authorities weigh and measure every extradition request to ensure that the cases against the named persons are not found wanting in the balance.

He warned that persons, especially those serving long sentences in US prisons or facing a lengthy stretch behind bars in the American penal system, will sing like canaries as they spew all kinds of fabricated stories against individuals in whom the US authorities might have an interest, just to have their sentences reduced.

Lucky

"This is what is happening. Even with people who they send warrants down here for you have people up there talking because they want to save their own skin. They concoct stories just to get plea bargain," Timoll said.

He felt he was the victim of one such person. "Yeah mon, the man tek five year out of mi life ... but after a while I said forget about that, there is nothing you can do about that."

Timoll is of the opinion that Jamaican citizens who are extradited to the US do not usually get a fair trial. "There is no way a man who is extradited is going to get a fair trial. I was lucky," he said.

In the final analysis, he believes the extradition has damaged his life. He claims 'boyhood' friends will no longer associate with him. "It's like a stigma ... they draw away from you ... the whole extradition thing it has wrecked people's family lives. You can't see your kids," Timoll bemoaned.

Timoll lives with his wife and son in Old Harbour but he has fathered four other children - three girls and another boy. Ironically, all his children who do not live with him, live in the US. "I'm a grand-father too. I have four grand-children and one is on the way."

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

Louis Timoll. - Ian Allen/Photographer