ATTORNEY AT LAW
Gaylon P. Riddels Law Firm, P.C.
Criminal Defense —
International Extradition
A federal extradition request from the United States is one of the most serious legal actions a person can face. It can mean arrest, detention, and removal from your home country to stand trial in the United States. Gaylon P. Riddels Law Firm, P.C. is a criminal defense firm whose primary focus is representing individuals located outside the United States who are sought by the U.S. federal government to face criminal charges.
Extradition defense is not one service among several — it is the primary focus of our practice, and every resource of the firm is built around it.
If you or a loved one has been arrested on a provisional arrest warrant, received notice of an extradition request, or is under investigation that could lead to extradition proceedings, time matters. Contact our office right away for a confidential consultation.
Extradition proceedings move on a compressed timeline and are governed by the foreign country's own law and its extradition treaty with the United States — not by U.S. criminal procedure. They often turn on issues most criminal defense attorneys rarely encounter: treaty interpretation, dual criminality, the rule of specialty, and coordination between U.S. federal prosecutors, the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs, and counsel in the country where the client is located. Handling these cases well requires a lawyer who understands both U.S. federal criminal defense and the extradition framework that determines whether, and how, a client is brought here to face it.
A large share of the underlying federal charges in these cases involve extraterritorial narcotics offenses under 21 U.S.C. § 959 — manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance intending or knowing it will be imported into the United States — and § 963, the related attempt and conspiracy statute. Because these charges reach conduct committed entirely abroad, they are the ones most often paired with a U.S. extradition request. We also defend clients against other federal charges connected to an extradition matter, including money laundering, weapons offenses, and additional narcotics or conspiracy counts.
In recent years, a significant share of international extradition matters — particularly cases originating in Latin America — have been prosecuted in the Eastern District of Texas, the federal district that includes Sherman and the Plano/McKinney area. Being based here means Mr. Riddels appears in this court regularly and is directly familiar with its judges, magistrate judges, and the U.S. Attorney's Office that handles these cases — not flying in from Miami or New York to learn the local landscape after a client has already been arrested. If your case is headed to the Eastern District of Texas, or you're not yet sure which district it will land in, that local footing is worth asking about.
Gaylon P. Riddels Law Firm, P.C. is a criminal defense firm. Within that field, our primary focus is defending individuals abroad who are sought for extradition to the United States to face federal criminal charges — from the initial arrest through surrender and the case that follows.
- Provisional arrest and detention abroad
- Coordination with foreign counsel during the extradition hearing
- Treaty and dual criminality analysis
- Communication with U.S. federal prosecutors before and after surrender
- Exercising Jury Trial Rights on the underlying U.S. charges
- Detention and bail hearings in the United States after surrender
- Sentencing and appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Facing extradition or criminal charges is frightening, and the decisions you make in the first days matter. Call (903) 893-2878 or fill out our contact form for a confidential consultation.