Former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen of his associates with election fraud, racketeering and other charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
I assume this is a genuine question? This is a state-level indictment from Georgia and Mr. Trump resides in Florida. Georgia cops can’t just go on an extrajudicial joyride across state lines and grab him. That would, unfortunately, be abduction.
In cases like these where a state wants to prosecute someone residing in another jurisdiction, the process generally goes like this:
The prosecuting state asks for the indicted person to return within a reasonable timeframe and face their allegations
The prosecuting state waits for this time limit to lapse
The governor of the prosecuting state requests an extradition warrant from the governor of the indicted person’s state [1]
If the indicted person’s state does not comply within a reasonable timeframe, then the prosecuting state gets the FBI involved
If the FBI fails to extradite (very unlikely), then the prosecuting state can pass a default judgement and start following alternative courses of action for causing suffering to the guilty
Generally speaking, states are federally obligated to honor each other’s extradition requests, though asking nicely still remains the first resort. Gov. DeSantis does have an opportunity to grandstand here, but he’s much more likely to drag out the process rather than outright defy it – pissing off the FBI is something which states try to avoid doing ↩︎
The prosecuting state asks for the indicted person to return within a reasonable timeframe and face their allegations
The indicted person flees the country
The end
Much be nice to be rich where you do crime, go anywhere you want, and escape the punishment. No federal no-fly list to be put on because it’s all state charges.
Uh, yeah… I guess? Step 2 is doing a lot of heavy lifting because states can and do extradite internationally. There’s a whole federal office which exists for this specific purpose: the OIA. It’s hardly a “happily ever after” situation to spend the rest of your life far away from home and constantly looking over your shoulders.
I assume this is a genuine question? This is a state-level indictment from Georgia and Mr. Trump resides in Florida. Georgia cops can’t just go on an extrajudicial joyride across state lines and grab him. That would, unfortunately, be abduction.
In cases like these where a state wants to prosecute someone residing in another jurisdiction, the process generally goes like this:
Generally speaking, states are federally obligated to honor each other’s extradition requests, though asking nicely still remains the first resort. Gov. DeSantis does have an opportunity to grandstand here, but he’s much more likely to drag out the process rather than outright defy it – pissing off the FBI is something which states try to avoid doing ↩︎
Much be nice to be rich where you do crime, go anywhere you want, and escape the punishment. No federal no-fly list to be put on because it’s all state charges.
Uh, yeah… I guess? Step 2 is doing a lot of heavy lifting because states can and do extradite internationally. There’s a whole federal office which exists for this specific purpose: the OIA. It’s hardly a “happily ever after” situation to spend the rest of your life far away from home and constantly looking over your shoulders.
That would work too.
In this case, I’m pro abduction, let’s do that