Cash crunch affect man’s extradition in fatal shooting
One of six people charged with the execution-style slaying of an Eastpointe man is sitting in a Tennessee jail cell awaiting extradition back to Michigan.
Local authorities don’t know if they will be able to fund the trip to have two police officers drive to Blountville,
Tenn. to pick up the suspect as the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office — which is responsible for the financing — lacks the money for the trip.
Eastpointe police estimate the cost of the twoday trip, including meals and lodging, will be about $1,000.
“Typically, the prosecutor office’s would pay the expenses, but if there is a lack of funding, I don’t know what will happen,” said Eastpointe Public Safety Director George Rouhib Jr.
Warnings of financial problems at the prosecutor’s office have been sounded since the election of Peter Lucido last November. Poor budget management by the previous administration and a 5% reduction request of all county departments by the Macomb County Executive’s Office are the primary reasons for the cash crunch.
According to officials in the Prosecutor’s Office, an additional $900,000 is being sought to hire staff and buy cell phones and other items.
A $5,000 allocation for extradition services in the office “is already long gone,” according to Prosecutor Lucido. He said he likely will take the money from other areas of the Prosecutor’s Office to pay for this trip, but he doesn’t know about the remaining nine months of the year.
“How do I tell the family of a victim that we can’t go and get the person accused in the case,” Lucido said. “That’s shameful and hurtful.”
Larry Bell Jr., 27, of Detroit, is one of six suspects named in arrest warrant for the fatal shooting of Jason Leon Foster.
Foster, 28, was sitting in his parked car in front of his home on Rein Avenue Dec. 9 when three carloads of shooters pulled up and opened fire. The other five defendants — including Foster’s ex-girlfriend — are in custody and have been arraigned.
But Bell allegedly drove to Tennessee, where FBI agents arrested him in Kingsport. He is being held in the Sullivan County Jail in Blountville, Tenn., near the eastern tip of Tennessee at the Virginia border, awaiting extradition.
Typically, an extradition hearing must be held within 10 days of the person being arrested or else the suspect is set free. In this case, a hearing was scheduled for May 18 in Kingsport General Session Court
Rouhib, who retired after 32 years in the Fraser Public Safety Department, said he’s not sure what steps would be taken if the county doesn’t fund transporting the suspect to Michigan.
“We want this person no matter how he gets back here,” he said. “It’s a concern to have our people go down there in the first place, because they are not trained in handling prisoners over long distances. It’s not really our job but we have to try and adapt.”
A former state senator, Lucido is confident he will be able to come up with the funding to transport Bell. As for the future, he’s not so sure.
“We will do our best to accommodate getting him extradited,” Lucido said. “Otherwise, anyone can run from the law. We’re going to find the money somewhere. But I don’t know what we’ll do the next time this comes up.”