Friday, July 4, 2008

Accused rapist fights extradition to Idaho

Marsalis serving 21-year sentence in Pennsylvania


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Jeffrey J. Marsalis

Jeffrey J. Marsalis, who is serving a 21-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania for conviction of sex crimes, is fighting extradition to Blaine County where he faces a 2005 Sun Valley charge of rape.

Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas confirmed Wednesday that it is still his intention to bring Marsalis to Idaho to face the charge, but said extradition has been delayed by court proceedings in Pennsylvania.

"Jeffrey Marsalis is currently fighting extradition," Thomas told the Idaho Mountain Express on Wednesday.

"My office has provided affidavits of identity for use in the extradition hearings that are taking place in Pennsylvania," Thomas said. "We hope to have the matter resolved soon and have Mr. Marsalis in Blaine County custody and ready to face trial on the charge of rape."

Marsalis is accused of drugging and raping a self-proclaimed lesbian at his apartment in Sun Valley in October of 2005.

Marsalis, now 35 and a former Wood River Valley resident, is currently serving his prison sentence at the Forest State Correctional Institution in Marienville in northwestern Pennsylvania.

His prison sentence followed a lengthy trial that received national news media attention and ended in June of 2007. He was convicted in Philadelphia of two counts of felony sexual assault and one misdemeanor charge of unlawful restraint.

Marsalis had been charged in Philadelphia with date-raping seven women. According to testimony during his trial, Marsalis met most of the women on Match.com, an Internet dating service.




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