Turkish teen charged with running somebody down in Istanbul will have to stay locked up as he awaits an extradition hearing, judge rules

A federal magistrate judge this week ruled a 17-year-old from Istanbul will have to remain behind bars while he awaits a hearing on extraditing him to Turkey to face charges he ran down five people standing on the side of the road, killing one, while speeding around a curve in his father's Porsche.

That hearing might not be until Oct. 15, under a schedule submitted by both his lawyers and the US Attorney's office yesterday.

US District Court Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell wrote the teen was a huge flight risk, even aside from the fact that extradition hearings are not criminal proceedings and so don't have the same rules. And he wrote he didn't buy arguments by the teen's lawyers he should be released to the custody of a loving aunt in Amesbury, in part because in several months on the lam in the US - including three weeks in an Airbnb on Plum Island - neither he nor his mother, who allegedly helped him flee, ever contacted that aunt.

Mother and son were arrested at the British International School of Boston in Jamaica Plain last month., along with his mother, last month, just as they were arriving for a visit to see if the school might be a good fit.

The teen's lawyers argued that all the fleeing was all his mother's idea and fault and that the teen, with no prior criminal record, was thrown into a high-security juvie prison in Connecticut where he spent his first three days in a room with the lights on 24 hours with no pillow, no access to the medication he needs for a skin condition and no way to contact his father in Turkey - and under the watch of guards that released his booking photo and information to Turkish media. Also, they wrote, he was actually born in the US and so has dual Turkish/American citizenship - and even spent a year going to Haverhill High School.

In his ruling, though, Cabell wrote that even aside from the issue that bail considerations don't apply in extradition proceedings, the teen was a huge flight risk.

First, T.C. fled Türkiye within hours of the accident and thus demonstrably exhibits a risk of flight if released. See Matter of Extradition of Noeller (noting "fact that the fugitive has evaded prosecution in his home country is indicative of his risk of flight were he to be released on bond here"). In that regard, the court is not convinced that Tok [his mother] was the sole instigator of the flight from Türkiye as between her and T.C. Rather, having expressed several times that his life was over, T.C. actively took part in fleeing the scene of the accident and thereafter the country. Even if this inference arguably goes too far, the record nonetheless provides no basis to suggest that T.C. offered any resistance to efforts to have him leave the scene of the accident and flee the country later that same evening.

Second, T.C. has an incentive to avoid returning to Türkiye where he faces serious charges that carry a ten-year maximum person term. See Drumm (finding "seriousness of the charges pending against the defendant in Ireland provides the defendant with an incentive to flee").

Third, were he to flee, Cihantimur [his father] has the financial means to assist T.C. in relocating and thereafter fund his daily needs. Indeed, Cihantimur provided the Turkish residence for T.C. and Tok, funded T.C.'s schooling, and his company paid the salary of Tok's driver. See Drumm, 150 F. Supp. 3d at 97 (Drumm's "presumed substantial assets provide him with the ability to flee."). To be sure, T.C. argues that he is not a flight risk because, simply, he "has no place to go," but this argument fails to persuade in light of the foregoing. Moreover, as a United States citizen with an extensive background of visiting other countries and having lived in the United States, "flight within the United States would not pose insuperable problems and is quite logical, as is borne out by a host of cases involving flight."

Also, Cabell wrote, the evidence suggests the teen isn't really all that close to his aunt in Amesbury, the one who would presumably keep him in line and going to hearings at the Moakley Courthouse:

T.C. and Tok entered the United States on March 2. Between that time and their June 14 arrest, they apparently did not visit T.C.'s aunt. In fact, they resided in an Airbnb in the area of Plum Island for three weeks, yet there is no indication that they made the relatively short trip from there to visit T.C.'s aunt. Drawing reasonable inferences, T.C. does not appear to have a close relationship with his aunt.

Still Cabell said that he would remain open to arguments for moving the teen away from the high-security lockup he's in now if his lawyers can show conditions have not improved for him.