Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press
BALTIMORE - Canadian Olympic gold-medalist Myriam Bedard will remain jailed while awaiting extradition to Canada to face charges of parental child abduction and violation of a custody order, a U.S. federal judge said Friday.
Bedard, 37, was arrested a week ago in Maryland and is being held on a warrant for being an international fugitive. She allegedly violated a child custody order by bringing her 12-year-old daughter to the United States. U.S. marshals found her and the girl, Maude, at a hotel in Columbia, a suburb of Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James K. Bredar said he could not grant Bedard bail Friday because of a treaty between the United States and Canada regarding extradition of people charged with crimes. He said a person subject to an international extradition request isn't entitled to bail, except under "extraordinary circumstances."
The Quebec native has been in the custody of U.S. marshals at the Howard County Detention Center since the arrest. Her daughter is back with Bedard's ex-husband, Jean Paquet, in Quebec.
Bedard waived extradition Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Jackson told the court her transfer could be delayed by the New Year's holiday and funeral observances in Washington for former President Gerald Ford.
Bedard won two gold medals in the biathlon competition at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. She won a bronze medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.
However, Bredar told the prosecutor that the two governments need to "get moving" and make the transfer "as soon as reasonably possible." Bredar said that a prolonged detention in the United States could prompt him to set bail.
Bredar set another hearing for Wednesday for an update on the extradition, but said he hoped Bedard's return to Quebec would take place before then.
Kevin McCants, Bedard's lawyer, said after the hearing he was optimistic that would happen.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will coordinate the details of Bedard's return with the U.S. Marshals Service.
McCants has maintained his client did nothing wrong. He said she has primary custody of the child. He also said she has traveled out of Canada with the girl before and kept Maude's father informed of their whereabouts. McCants told the judge that Bedard was not a flight risk and should be eligible for bail.
"She never hid her existence in the United States," McCants said.
McCants also said Bedard tried to turn herself in Dec. 14 to FBI officials in Washington after she learned about the Dec. 8 warrant from police in Quebec City, but was turned away because the bureau didn't have the warrant, which was with U.S. marshals.
Bedard had come to the area with her daughter and common-law spouse, Nima Mazhari, to talk to U.S. government officials about a scandal involving a government sponsorship program in Quebec between 1996 and 2004, McCants said. Bedard testified in 2004 in Canada that she had been forced to quit a job at Via Rail in 2002 after raising concerns about the company's dealings with an advertiser.
"She was here letting the American authorities know what was going on there," McCants said.
If convicted in Canada of the two charges, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Mazhari, who was at the courthouse Friday, has had his share of legal problems. He was charged in 2005 in Canada with theft and possession of about 20 paintings worth $100,000.