A UK judge has confirmed an American mother will be extradited to the US to face murder charges over the deaths of her two children. Judge John Zani told Westminster Magistrates' Court today that British Home Secretary to order Kimnerlee Singler to return to the state of Colorado. Singler, 36, is alleged to have murdered her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son by shooting and stabbing them in December 2023.
She is also charged for the attempted murder after allegedly slashing her 11-year-old daughter with a knife. Singler additionally faces three counts of child abuse and one count of assault. "I am of the firm opinion that the defendant's extradition to the United States of America to face criminal prosecution complies with all of her Convention Rights within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998," Judge Zani said, according to the BBC.
Her lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argued sending her to the US would be a violation of European human rights laws, as she would face prison without parole should she be convicted of first-degree murder. Mr Fitzgerald added such a sentence would be inhumane as it would offer no prospect for release, even if she is rehabilitated.
Fitzgerald continued, claiming while Colorado's Democrat Governor Jared Polis could commute her sentence, it would be political suicide to do so. Experts for the defence originally argued a life sentence had not been commuted in Colorado but it was later learned then-Governor John Hickenlooper commuted the life sentences of five men convicted of murder in 2018, the Associated Press reported.
