US fugitive Nicholas Rossi to remain behind bars after latest freedom bid fails
US fugitive Nicholas Rossi will remain in prison after his latest request for freedom was denied by a sheriff.
Rossi, who is fighting an offer to bring him back to the United States where he faces a range of charges including rape, has filed a new request for bail.
But the move was denied by Sheriff Norman McFadyen, who heard prosecutors still consider Rossi a “fugitive risk”.
The request was made during a bail review hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Rossi, 35, did not appear at the hearing in person or via video link but was represented by his attorney, Mungo Bovey KC.
Mr Bovey asked that Rossi be allowed out of the city’s Saughton Prison, where he has been held since last July.
However, bail was denied by Crown Counselor MP Paul Harvey, who has raised concerns Rossi could attempt to escape if released.
Sheriff McFadyen declined bail at Thursday’s hearing, but Rossi can now appeal again to review his bail status.
Rossi has failed multiple bail applications since his pre-trial detention last summer.
He made previous applications in August, October, November, January and last month, all of which were denied.
During Rossi’s extradition hearing last November, Sheriff McFadyen blasted Rossi’s bizarre claims of being an innocent Irishman named Arthur Knight in his verdict on Rossi’s identity.
He then denied Rossi’s request for bail, saying it had been proven by evidence that he posed a “risk of absconding” due to using aliases and concealing his real identity.
A week-long extradition hearing for Rossi was due to start last Monday but the Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told Rossi refused to get into the prison car.
Sheriff McFadyen eventually adjourned the hearing to June 26 after Mr Bovey argued the defense was not properly prepared.
Rossi was arrested at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital last December while being treated for Covid-19.
US prosecutors allege Rossi raped a 21-year-old girl in Utah in 2008. He is also said to have attacked women in Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts.
Rossi reportedly told US media in December 2019 that he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live. Several outlets reported that he had died in February 2020.
At a court hearing last September, Rossi said he was “tortured” during a tirade in the prison courtroom.
During his bail application in January, Rossi said he was bullied by fellow inmates in Saughton’s detention center.
He claimed they mocked him by regularly singing John Denver’s hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
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