Race charged with Manor murder; will be prosecuted here first

By SUZANNE MOORE
Staff Writer

May 25, 2007 10:24 am

— PLATTSBURGH -- American courts get first crack at suspect Glen D. Race, who was charged Thursday with second-degree murder in the death of Darcy Manor.
"Your jurisdiction would take precedence over ours," said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Joe Taplin, media relations officer with the Halifax District in Nova Scotia.
Race, also charged with murdering two men in the Halifax area sometime between May 1 and 9 and sole suspect in the May 10 homicide of Mooers resident Darcy Manor, remained in custody in Texas on Thursday.
A warrant for Race's arrest was issued by Mooers Town Justice Jeff Menard. Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said he didn't know when Race would be brought back here for arraignment.
"We're in the process of speaking with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas to work on whatever means we can to get the defendant brought to New York," he said.
Wylie has asked that office to dismiss the federal assault charge for which Race was arraigned on Wednesday, brought due to the struggle that ensued when he resisted arrest by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent in Texas on Tuesday morning.
According to an affidavit made by Ryan Flint, an FBI agent who investigated the incident, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Ramon Vargas Jr. approached Race near a highway close to the Mexican border and asked for identification. Race showed him a Nova Scotia ID that identified him and gave his birth date as May 3, 1981.
Race opened his bag to get his passport at the agent's request, and Vargas saw what he thought was the stock of a rifle. He asked Race to put his hands on the Border Patrol car.
"Race turned toward Agent Vargas and attempted to grab Agent Vargas's sidearm," the affidavit reads. "A struggle ensued, with Agent Vargas using one hand to hold his weapon in his holster and the other hand to detain Race.
"During the struggle, Race bit Agent Vargas on his left cheek and right hand. Agent Vargas forced Race to the ground, and Agent Vargas was on top of Race's back. Agent Vargas unholstered his weapon and pointed it at the back of Race's head until backup arrived."
MORE CHARGES LIKELY
The DA's Office is considering whether evidence would also support a charge of first-degree murder, Wylie said, which can apply when a homicide results during commission of a robbery or burglary.
Other charges will likely be levied for the theft of the rifle police believe fired the shot that killed Manor, for his pickup truck and for a credit card that belonged to the Mooers man that was found in Race's possession.
Wylie didn't think Race had used the credit card during his flight south.
TRACING HIS PATH
Investigations continued Thursday in both the United States and Canada as law enforcement tried to piece together Race's route from Halifax to Mooers and then on to Texas.
"We're working closely with authorities in the United States and vice versa," Taplin said.
The search continued, too, for the black 1994 two-door Honda Civic it is presumed the murder suspect stole from one of his victims in Halifax before fleeing to the United States.
Taplin said it is not yet known whether Race crossed the border in that car.
"We're still trying to trace his tracks."
The Quebec region immediately north of the border has become a primary focus in the hunt for the vehicle, he said.
It was a teletype alert from Interpol in Ottawa about the missing car and its connection to a Halifax murder that, on May 11, drew the attention of State Police trying to pin down a suspect in Manor's homicide.
"On May 12, through our investigation with RCMP's Major Crime Unit, we deemed Race as a person of interest," Taplin said.
It followed that investigators in New York state did the same, he said.
He wouldn't say how suspicion fell upon Race in the first place or disclose further details about the crimes in Halifax.
With the case now in the hands of the Clinton County district attorney, State Police will be releasing no further information about Race or Manor's murder, said New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Capt. Robert LaFountain.
That includes autopsy results and further details about Manor's death, he said.
"Now the suspect has been located, it becomes up to the district attorney."
EXTRADITION PACT
Taplin said it is likely that once Race's court proceedings conclude in Clinton County, Canada will apply to the United States for his extradition there.
A treaty between the two countries allows for extradition for certain crimes, including murder, said William Pericak, an assistant United States attorney with the Albany office of the Northern District of New York.
But the requesting country must provide prima facie evidence (facts essential to the case) that demonstrates the defendant committed the crime in question.
In cases such as Race's, in which the person is also charged with committing a crime in the country where he has been apprehended, "whichever jurisdiction is trying him would complete their proceedings before returning him," Pericak said.
It doesn't matter, he said, that the Halifax murders took place before the one in Mooers.
"It's not as if the earliest crime takes precedence," he said.
CHALLENGES
Extradition is very common, the assistant U.S. attorney said, citing the high-profile case of Hell's Angels biker Richard Vallée, a Canadian who is charged with the 1993 murder of Lee Carter Jr. in a car-bomb explosion at Bowl Mart Lanes in Champlain.
"He's now in U.S. custody, awaiting trial (in September)," Pericak said. "That's the process in reverse."
Vallée fought extradition to the United States for more than six years before losing a final appeal in November 2006.
Race, too, would have the opportunity to challenge his return to Canada should an agreement be reached at some point for him to face murder charges there, Pericak said.
"He would have a lawyer appointed," he said in describing the overall process, "and either consent to or waive extradition or contest it, in which a magistrate makes that decision."
While the two governments have not yet embarked on extradition proceedings, they were cooperating Thursday to make it possible for a Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation team to expand its work into the United States, Taplin said.
He didn't know whether the team would be visiting Churubusco Lodge camp in Mooers where Manor was killed.
smoore@pressrepublican.com

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