Transgender person in B.C., facing extradition to U.S. on murder charge, denied bail
Credit to Author: Keith Fraser| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 21:22:11 +0000
A transgender person ordered extradited to the United States to face a murder charge in Washington state has been denied bail pending a judicial review of an issue arising in her case.
Kevin David Patterson, who has undergone gender transitioning and now identifies as a female, was arrested in September 2014 in Abbotsford.
She was charged with the murder of Richard Bergesen, who was found dead in his residence in Sammamish, Wash., on Sept. 17, 2014. The cause of death was multiple skull fractures.
U.S. authorities allege that Patterson, 26, told a friend that Bergesen, whom she was living with at the time, had made a move on her and that she’d hit him over the head with a shovel.
She allegedly told the friend that she’d stolen Bergen’s identification, credit cards and BMW vehicle and had entered Canada illegally in eastern Washington by driving through a barbed wire fence.
In May 2015, in the first step in the extradition process, the B.C. Supreme Court ordered that she be committed for extradition to the U.S.
The federal justice minister then ordered that she surrender herself for extradition. Applications by Patterson for bail prior to the committal hearing and pending her appeal were denied.
The B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal from the committal order and the judicial review of the surrender order and leave to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada was dismissed in March 2018.
In December 2018, Patterson sent further submissions to the minister seeking assurances regarding her treatment as a transgendered person when she arrives in the U.S.
She asked to be allowed to continue hormone therapy, be housed consistent with her post-operative gender and be assured of proper medical treatment.
In January 2019, the minister declined her submissions and Patterson sought a judicial review of the decision.
She then filed her third application for bail pending the judicial review, but in a ruling released Tuesday B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Elizabeth Bennett rejected the application.
At the bail hearing, Patterson, who was born in Canada and placed for adoption before moving to Washington with her new family, claimed that she’d suffered sexual harassment and sexual assault at the hands of prison guards and had attempted suicide.
She was initially incarcerated at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre but was transferred to the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, about 10 months after advising B.C. Corrections that she identified as female.
After a violent incident in August 2019, she was transferred back to the Surrey prison, a move that she challenged in court. A judge found her rights to procedural fairness were breached and sent the matter back to prison authorities for reconsideration.
The issue at the bail hearing was whether there had been a material change in the circumstances of Patterson sufficient to warrant her release.
The judge found that the circumstances in the case and the risk of flight by Patterson continue to weigh against release.
“Nothing in the new evidence filed materially changes whether Ms. Patterson is a flight risk,” said Bennett.
“Despite her plans and hopes, there is little tying Ms. Patterson to British Columbia, and a great deal of incentive to abscond. In my view the risk of flight remains high.”
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.