Reference Re Ng Extradition
supreme Court of Canada case
Reference Re Ng Extradition was a 1991 case in which the Supreme Court of Canada held that it was permissible to extradite Charles Ng, a fugitive, to the United States, where he was wanted on charges of several murders and might face the death penalty. The issue came before the court in the form of a reference from the federal government, which asked the court for an advisory opinion as to whether the extradition of a fugitive threatened with execution would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Along with the Kindler case, the ruling in Re Ng Extradition was essentially overturned in 2001 with United States v. Burns. In Burns, the Supreme Court found extraditing people to countries in which they might face the death penalty breached fundamental justice under the Charter.
In 1998, Ng was convicted by a jury in California of eleven counts of murder and sentenced to death. As of March 2022, official California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records show Ng still waits on death row, where no executions have taken place since 2006.
Background
Charles Chi-Tat Ng was wanted by the State of California on multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, and burglary, for which he potentially faced the death penalty. After his accomplice Leonard Lake confessed to their crimes—and committed suicide—Ng fled to Canada.
On July 6, 1985, in Calgary, Alberta, he was caught shoplifting.
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