A Queens murder suspect who went into hiding in Guyana returned to New York City to face justice for the 2011 slaying after an extradition case, setting a new precedent.
Troy Thomas was shipped to the United States on Wednesday, after fighting his extradition for more than a year, on charges he shot 20-year-old Keith Frank at a house party in Richmond Hill on Dec. 11, 2011.
Law enforcement said he’s believed to be the first U.S. fugitive extradited from Guyana in recent years, and the U.S. Embassy to Guyana called his extradition a “new precedent.”
The tattoo-covered Guyana native said nothing Thursday afternoon as cops dragged him in front of a judge in Queens.
He is accused of gunning down Frank Keith in 2011 outside a house party in South Ozone Park, cops said. Keith later died at New York Hospital, Queens.
Police in Guyana picked up Thomas last year on the request of US authorities but he did not exhaust his extradition appeals until this week.
The report stated that Thomas’ transfer to the US set a new precedent for Guyana, which has not previously extradited to the US, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
It took a year of negotiations between the country’s government and the US Embassy, officials said.
“The Government of Guyana’s actions over the past year clearly indicate its dedication to law and order and established norms of international criminal justice – Guyana is moving in the right direction,” Ambassador Sarah Lynch said in a statement.
Thomas, of 32nd Street, South Ozone Park, Queens, New York, U.S.A., had tried to fight the extradition since early 2018 when he was picked up by the police in an early morning raid and has been fighting extradition in the High Court.
Earlier this month, Justice Navindra Singh refused the Fixed Date Application (FDA) filed by Troy Thomas at the High Court.
The FDA was filed to challenge the authority of Magistrate Isaacs-Marcus to commit Thomas to custody.
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