The Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has begun preparations to bring convicted sex criminal Jeffrey J. Marsalis to Idaho to face a 2005 Sun Valley rape charge.
Arrangements for extraditing Marsalis were discussed Monday morning at a case status hearing in Blaine County 5th District Court.
Marsalis, a 34-year-old former Wood River Valley resident, was sentenced in Philadelphia in October to 21 years in prison on two felony counts of sexual assault and one misdemeanor charge of unlawful restraint. The convictions followed a jury trial last June in Philadelphia where Marsalis was accused of raping and drugging seven women, many of whom he met through the online dating service Match.com.
At sentencing, the Philadelphia court also ruled that Marsalis is a "sexually violent predator" and ordered that he be classified as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
Marsalis is accused in Sun Valley of drugging and raping a then 21-year-old woman in October 2005. Blaine County court records describe the woman as a "lesbian" who did not intend to have sex with Marsalis. He was indicted by a Blaine County grand jury in April 2006 on a charge of felony rape.
It was unclear Monday whether or not the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections will cooperate in Marsalis' extradition. However, Philadelphia prosecutor Joseph Kahn said previously that his office will cooperate in having Marsalis tried in Blaine County.
Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas said in court Monday that he's trying to get that case scheduled in 5th District Court so that once Marsalis is brought to Blaine County it's not necessary to shuttle him back and forth between here and Pennsylvania.
Defense attorney Doug Nelson, who participated in the hearing by telephone, explained that Marsalis has been incarcerated in Pennsylvania since shortly after his arrest in Sun Valley.
Court records say that Marsalis waived extradition following his Blaine County arrest.
Jeffrey J. Marsalis
