U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters at the White House on Feb. 12 in Washington, DC. Ms. Bondi is acting on executive orders that were signed by President Donald Trump as he took office in January, including one that seeks to restore the death penalty.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
A Canadian awaiting trial in the U.S. for his alleged role in a violent, transnational drug trafficking ring could face the death penalty if convicted, under a new direction from the White House to pursue capital punishment for perpetrators of serious crimes.
Andrew Clark is in custody in Los Angeles, where he is charged with drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit murder, stemming from his alleged role as the second-in-command to Canadian Olympic snowboarder and fugitive Ryan Wedding. Mr. Wedding is alleged to be the head of a cocaine-trafficking organization sheltered by the Sinaloa crime cartel in Mexico.
Mr. Clark was arrested in Mexico after a cross-border investigation involving the FBI and the RCMP. In February, he was among 29 suspects who were handed over to face U.S. criminal charges, according to a statement from Attorney-General Pamela Bondi. Mr. Clark is among six who could face “death or life imprisonment” after U.S. federal prosecutors evaluate “whether capital punishment is available” in these cases, the statement said.
Ms. Bondi is acting on executive orders that were signed by President Donald Trump as he took office in January, including one that seeks to restore the death penalty as “an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes.”
In an all-staff memo in February, Ms. Bondi told federal prosecutors to pursue more capital cases against alleged drug traffickers implicated in murder-for-hire conspiracies.
Mr. Clark’s case – and the broader push by the White House to revive the death penalty – could stoke tensions between the United States and Canada, which outlawed capital punishment in 1976. Since 1999, when the last Canadian citizen was executed in the United States, Canadian courts have directed cabinet ministers, diplomats and law-enforcement officials to take steps to try to prevent the execution of Canadians on death row.
Observers say the direction from Mr. Trump could complicate future cross-border investigations involving Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Mr. Clark last appeared in court in Los Angeles on March 24, where he pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Matthew Lombard, did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Clark was born in 1990.
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the case. The White House did not respond to questions from The Globe and Mail.
Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod said she could not comment on the case because of privacy considerations, but that Ottawa will fight for clemency in any capital-punishment case involving a Canadian.
“Canada remains steadfast in condemning the use of the death penalty in all cases, everywhere, which is irreversible and inconsistent with basic human dignity,” she said. “Global Affairs Canada is monitoring and aware of all presidential actions signed by the U.S. President relevant to Canada.”
The Liberal Party campaign did not directly address a question from The Globe about whether it would advocate for clemency in such cases if re-elected on April 28. But spokeswoman Jenna Ghassabeh said: “Canada is not the United States. We remain steadfast in our opposition to the use of the death penalty in all cases, everywhere.”
The Conservative Party campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Professor Robert Currie, a Dalhousie University Schulich School expert in transnational law, said any Canadian interventions for Mr. Clark “could get very politically complicated.”
“At a police to police level, and, prosecution to prosecution level, it could be quite abrasive, and could be corrosive of relations,” he said.
Prof. Currie said the push to revive capital punishment in the U.S. could have implications for future cross-border investigations involving Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies. “Canadian police should not be engaged in helping foreign authorities execute people,” he said.
The police pursuit of Mr. Clark predated Mr. Trump’s re-election. Last October in Los Angeles, the FBI and the RCMP jointly announced arrests. “Through collaborative efforts with the FBI, we have disrupted a major organized crime group,” RCMP Chief Superintendent Mathieu Bertrand said at the time.
U.S. court filings allege Mr. Clark, nicknamed ”the Dictator,” served as “a principal administrator, organizer, and leader of the criminal enterprise” led by Mr. Wedding.
Prosecutors say that the drug trafficking organization’s goal was to ship hundreds of kilograms of cocaine across North America. They allege that both Mr. Wedding and Mr. Clark orchestrated several murder-for-hire conspiracies in Southern Ontario to enforce drug debts. One shooting involved a family in Caledon who were mistakenly identified – resulting in the slaying of a mother and a father. Their 28-year-old daughter was shot 13 times but survived.
California prosecutors did not initially mention the death penalty in statements that outlined that the sentences Mr. Wedding and Mr. Clark could face upon conviction. But this spring, as Mr. Clark was denied bail, new filings were entered into a California court saying that the death penalty is an option.
The new Trump order affects only cases led by federal prosecutors. At the state level, capital punishment is on the books in some jurisdictions.
One such state is Montana, where the only Canadian on death row, Ronald Smith, remains in custody. Mr. Smith was sentenced to death in 1983 after he was convicted of committing a double homicide.
In the late 2000s, Mr. Smith successfully sued the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper over its refusal to support his bid for clemency. The government wrote a letter urging clemency in Mr. Smith’s case, but authorities in Montana weren’t swayed.
Executions in Montana have been stayed since 2015 because the state law requires the use of an “ultra-fast-acting barbiturate” that is no longer available. However, the executive order by Mr. Trump urges Ms. Bondi, “to ensure that each state that allows capital punishment has a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection.”