A man wanted in Pontiac, Ill. on a home repair fraud charge, who was arrested in Batavia on May 19, may go free because, apparently, the governor's office in Illinois has failed to file an extradition request.
At least, no request has reached the Genesee County District Attorney's Office, according to Will Zickl, an assistant D.A.
It's also possible, the request never made it out Gov. David Patterson's office.
Normally, it would be up to the Illinois governor's office to contact the New York governor's office with such a request.
William John Riley, who was reportedly living in the Rochester area at the time of his arrest, was stopped May 19 for allegedly having excessively tinted windows on the vehicle he was driving.
Under state law, a person cannot be held more than 90 days without a proper extradition request. The clock would have started ticking at the time of his arraignment, a few days within the time of his arrest.
Riley is out on bail. He was reportedly scheduled to appear in court today along with his attorney, Mike Ranzenhofer, at 1:30 p.m. Neither Riley nor Ranzenhofer were apparently in court at that time.
Sometime around 2:30 p.m., Ranzenhofer did meet with Judge Robert Noonan and Zickl in the judge's chambers.
Zickle said Ranzenhofer made a motion to dismiss the case, and Noonan requested that the motion be filed in writing.
It's unclear if Riley was in the courthouse today or where he is living. Ranzenhofer said during a phone interview later that he couldn't discuss the specifics of the case without his client's permission.
According to Zickl, a wrinkle in the case is that Riley isn't being held in jail, but is out on bail, which may change the 90-day limitation.
Ranzenhofer contends, in general, without discussing his client's case, that being held is being held, whether in jail or out on bail.
There's no word on when Noonan might issue an opinion on the motion.
