A federal judge has rejected a 70-year-old Nebraska man's plea to be released from custody pending his possible extradition to Germany to be tried for a 1978 killing.
Tommy "Tom" Molina's attorney had sought review of the magistrate judge's order certifying him for extradition and committing him to custody pending a decision by the United States Secretary of State.
"Mr. Molina's efforts to poke holes in the evidence supporting the charge miss the big picture: It's possible that Mr. Molina is innocent of this crime, but if so he's extremely unlucky," Senior U.S. District Judge John Gerrard wrote in an order last week.
He said the circumstantial evidence summarized in now-retired Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart's memorandum and order would be a "series of remarkable coincidences were they unrelated to Mr. Molina's involvement in the killing."
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Gerrard said the arguments Molina's attorney makes might persuade the German court that the prosecution hasn't met its burden to prove him guilty, but probable cause is the standard here.
And, he said, that had been met.
At a hearing in August, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Packard went through the evidence German investigators have that they say points to Molina as the one who killed Cornelia Humpfer on April 20, 1978, in Schweinfurt, where he was stationed at the time as a U.S. Army soldier.
She was found the next morning with 14 stab wounds.
Among other things, Packard described recent DNA testing in the cold case that he said tied Molina's DNA to the victim's stockings and statements he'd allegedly made to his ex-wife that he had been having an affair with the woman and that she had threatened to expose it.
Molina's attorney, Federal Public Defender Toni Leija-Wilson, said Molina's DNA had been tested previously and not found to be a match and his alleged admissions were just stories Molina made up while drinking.
He maintains his innocence.
Leija-Wilson raised five "special circumstances" that she argued warranted his release on bail: medical conditions, the financial support he provides for his family, the bailability of the offense in Germany, his lack of a criminal record and the anticipated length of the proceedings.
In his order, Gerrard said only two really were in play: medical conditions and the length of the proceedings.
He said that while Molina does seem to have a number of health issues, they don't appear to be life-threatening or beyond the capacity of federal authorities to manage while he's in custody.
And while unusual delay in the process can be a special circumstance, there's nothing to indicate that happened here, the judge said.
He said it wasn't like delays in a politically sensitive case involving escapees from a British prison in Northern Ireland, or in the case of a former Peruvian military officer seeking asylum after he was charged with crimes arising out of conflict with a revolutionary group.
Certification next will go to the Secretary of State for a final decision on whether to surrender him to German authorities.