I said, “That’s all.”

The judge asked in icy tones, “Have you any more witnesses, Mr. Lam?”

“None, your honor.”

“Very well. I shall now decide the case.”

“Will I have an opportunity to argue it?”

“I fail to see where you can say anything which will affect the ruling of the court.”

I said, “There is plenty to be said, your honor. The State of California wants me back. A few hours ago, the State of California didn’t want me within its borders. The State of California turned me over to the State of Arizona against my will and wish. I was dragged into the State of Arizona. There can be no question of that.”

“But what does that have to do with it?” the judge asked. “You have admitted killing a man in California.”

“Certainly, I killed him. He deserved to die. He was a rat and a double-crosser. But that isn’t the question before this court. The question before this court is whether I can be extradited to California. I can’t be extradited to California. The only authority which one state has to take prisoners from another state comes from the organic law which provides that fugitives from justice may be extradited from one sovereign state to another. I am not a fugitive from justice.”

“If you’re not a fugitive from justice, I don’t know what you are,” Judge Oliphant said.

“I don’t need to argue the matter,” I retorted, “for two reasons. One of them is that your honor’s mind is evidently made up, and the other is that better legal minds than I have already wrestled with the problem. The fact remains, however, that a man is not a fugitive from a state unless he flees from that state. He doesn’t flee from that state unless he does so voluntarily and in order to avoid arrest. I did not flee from California. I was dragged from California. I was taken out under legal process to answer for a crime of which I was innocent. I claimed that I was innocent. I came to Arizona and established my innocence. Any time I get good and ready to go back to California, California can arrest me for murder. Until I get good and ready to go back, I can stay here and no power on earth can make me budge.”

The judge was looking interested now. “When you mention that more learned minds than yours have considered the question, are you, by any chance, referring to some judicial precedent?”