Dean Jay Fletcher appeared in the Honolulu District Court yesterday to answer to a US Government complaint for provisional arrest with a view towards extradition.
Fletcher is the fugitive who fled from Vava’u on a yacht a week before he was to stand trial in Tonga for the murder of his wife, earlier this year.
In a filing yesterday, Assistant US Attorney Larry Butrick said the US Government is fulfilling its extradition obligations under a treaty with Tonga, signed in 1931 and entered into force in 166.
The treaty provides for the provisional arrest and detention of alleged fugitives pending the receipt of sufficient evidence to support the extradition under laws of the United States.
The attorney said the US has received a request from the Kingdom of Tonga for the provisional arrest of Fletcher which includes an indictment charging him with the murder, manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm to his wife on July 6, 2016.
Three divers, according to the indictment, witnessed the murder.
The filing by US Assistant Attorney Butrick said Fletcher went to the Neiafu Police Station the next day to report his wife had died after she slipped and fell down the stairs on their yacht.
Fletcher was arrested after the witnesses came forward to report what they saw and he was kept at the police holding cell.
On July 11, he asked a Tongan police detective for permission to use the bathroom , and after he was returned to his cell he dashed out of the police station.
He ran to his yacht, Sea Oak and sailed to American Samoa.
He was arrested and charged in the territory for illegal entry and failure to follow departure procedures when he attempted to leave port.
This past Monday the local case against him was dismissed and he was handed over to federal marshals who escorted him to Honolulu.
The US District Court has scheduled an extradition hearing for Fletcher, who is detained at the US federal prison near Honolulu Airport, on November 28.
