“I am, your honor. The case of In re Whittington, 34C.A.344, is a leading case and absolutely in point. I can also refer you to the case of People vs. Jones, S4C.A.423. The California doctrine has been succinctly expressed in Volume 12 California Jurisprudence, page 398, as follows: ‘Where it appears that the presence of the accused in the state of refuge is not due to any voluntary act of his own, but to legal or illegal compulsion, he is not a fugitive from justice and cannot be extradited as such. Thus where it is shown that his presence in the state of refuge is due to extradition proceedings instituted by that state itself for a previous crime and honored by the state now demanding his return, he cannot be extradited by the latter, both because he did not flee from it, and because, by honoring the first requisition, it waived any right to prosecute him for the offense committed against its laws.’ ”

The judge sat staring at me incredulously. The district attorney got to his feet, and said, “Surely, your honor, that cannot be the law. If such were the law, any man could commit murder, with malice aforethought. He could coldly, deliberately, and feloniously kill another human being; then, by taking advantage of a legal loophole, avoid any punishment.”