No bail for ex-president

Photo: The Canadian Press

A U.S. judge in San Francisco denied bail to former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo in a hearing Thursday that ended with an emotional outburst by his wife, who had to be dragged out of the courtroom after she started shouting at prosecutors.

Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson denied bail for the second time to Toledo, 73, who is wanted in his native country in a corruption scandal.

"Dr. Toledo has not carried the burden of proof to show he is not a risk of flight, and so I'll maintain the detention order," Hixson said.

Shortly after, Toledo's wife, Eliane Karp, began cursing and shouting at prosecutors, saying they will be "personally responsible for his death," and was dragged by guards out of the courtroom.

"It's the life of a man, goddam it! You're killing him!" Karp, 65, shouted.

Three days after Toledo's July 16 arrest on an extradition request at his Menlo Park home, Hixson ordered him held in custody, reasoning that if he fled it "would be a diplomatically significant failure of the United States to live up to its treaty obligations to Peru."

Toledo has been held in solitary confinement at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County since his arrest. His attorney, Graham Archer, argued for the former president to be released on bail and put on house arrest, saying Toledo's mental health is deteriorating.

Archer said Toledo was aware of the attempt to extradite him since early 2017 and had not tried to flee California, where he lived as a permanent legal resident and where he has a group of longtime friends, including Stanford University professors, who are willing to put up cash and homes to pay a $1 million bail.

LaPunzina said he could be housed in a unit of the jail away from the general population but with other inmates who like him "have to be watched more closely."

The judge set a new hearing for Oct. 17.

The Peruvian government requested Toledo's extradition earlier this year to stand trial on charges of influence-peddling and money laundering.