House Judiciary Committee examines S.87 extradition changes as defenders warn of longer detention and reduced judicial review

On April 17 the Vermont House Judiciary Committee heard hours of testimony on S.87 and an accompanying draft (1.1) that would revise the state's extradition procedures, including extending a pre‑extradition detention cap from 90 to 120 days and creating an expedited, waiver‑based 14‑day process intended to speed return of people who previously signed waivers in another state.

The committee heard sharp critiques from Rebecca Turner, an appellate division attorney in the Office of the Defender General, who said the bill would lengthen detention and reduce procedural protections. "The current max time is 90 days. And now the proposal is extending that to 120 days detention before they're presented out," Turner said. Turner warned the change could let prosecutors keep someone in Vermont by default and said that, in practice, the proposal could be used to pressure defendants held in extradition custody to plead quickly: "you give the state's attorneys this kind of power. Now they've got the thumb on the scale to pressure someone who's been sitting in jail on a hold without no protections from pretrial release, no statute... to plead quickly to anything just to get out of detention."

Turner also questioned the proposed summary or "expedited" proceedings in draft 1.1 (often discussed as the D/1 subsection). Under that language, a Vermont arresting officer could deliver a written assertion that a person has signed a pre‑existing waiver of…