Extradition hearing today for Feit

By Lorenzo Zazueta-Castro
Monitor
February 23, 2016

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/extradition-hearing-today-for-feit/article_8ec78d72-da7e-11e5-a51c-8306cffbb084.html

The Feb. 9, 2016, police mugshot of John B. Feit, who was indicted by a Hidalgo County grand jury for the 1960 murder of Irene Garza.

PHOENIX — The former priest accused of murdering a McAllen beauty queen is set to appear for his first extradition hearing since his arrest.

John Feit, 83, the man long suspected by many of killing Irene Garza more than five decades ago remains in custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, where he has sat for more than two weeks as he awaits for the extradition process to run its course.

Feit is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Maricopa Superior Court.

Feit, who was arrested Feb. 9 at his apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, had lived in the Phoenix area since the early ‘80s, where he had started a new life after leaving the priesthood. At his initial hearing the following day, Feit chose to fight his extradition back to Texas. A commissioner set his bond at $750,000 cash only.

Russell Richelsoph, a Tempe-based criminal defense attorney who has more than 16 years of experience, said the hearing Wednesday, the first of four scheduled for Feit, will be a routine check-in for both the defendant and the state.

Richelsoph said as part of the extradition process, hearings are set at 15, 30, 60 and 90 days. The defendant has an opportunity to be heard while the home state picks him up.

“It’s just an opportunity for a judge to say, ‘Hey, why is this guy still here,’” Richelsoph said.

Richelsoph, who works at the law firm Davis Miles McGuire Gardner PLLC, said in Feit’s case, as in most extradition cases in Maricopa County, deputies from the county’s sheriff office will represent the state.

During his initial appearance more than two weeks ago, the commissioner advised Feit that he did not have the right to a court-appointed attorney during the extradition process. He would be tasked with hiring his own attorney.

As of late Tuesday evening, Feit did not have an attorney listed.

Richelsoph said it’s unlikely there’s a scenario in which Feit isn’t sent back to Texas. The only situation that could lead to that would be in case of a technical error, and even then the state can easily fix that issue.

“(If) they didn’t send over the fingerprint packet, or the photo packet,” Richelsoph said. “A technical error they can fix, and they usually will fix it and especially in this type of case. I’d be very surprised if there’s technical errors, this isn’t some silly marijuana case from 10 years ago.”

Richelsoph also said he believes because of the time that has passed in the case, a prosecutor would have a tough task ahead of them.

“A criminal defendant has the right to have a person who is testifying against them physically in the courtroom, and have their attorney cross-examine that person. You can’t do that to a dead person,” Richelsoph said. “You’re going to have issues with statements being made if the people they were made to aren’t alive anymore. It’s not just violations of the hearsay rules, it’s also against the confrontation clause.”

Richelsoph said he couldn’t give his opinion on what his strategy would be in defending Feit because he would have to know what evidence would be used and what wouldn’t be used against him.

The 90-day extradition process began 15 days ago.

“My guess is they’re going to get him pretty quickly and bring him back home,” Richelsoph said.