According to Haaretz, a trial court in Israel on Sunday ruled that a U.S. request for extradition of a convicted hit-and-run driver should be denied unless it is assured that the driver will have access to kosher food while serving his sentence. Jerusalem District Court Judge Ben-Tzion Greenberger pointed to Israel's Extradition Law that prohibits extradition where it will "harm public policy or a crucial interest of the State of Israel." According to the court, if Wayne is not assured kosher food, it would be "a serious violation of his most basic rights to freedom of religion and worship."
In 1998, Lawrence Seth Wayne was sentenced to 19 years in prison by a Florida court on charges of DUI manslaughter. In 2000, after losing an appeal but before he was sent to prison, Wayne fled to Israel using a forged passport and assumed name. Wayne was finally located in Israel last year. Florida stopped offering a kosher food alternative to its inmates in 2007 (see prior posting) but in 2010 began a trial program to reinstate availability through the Aleph Institute. (See prior posting.) The United States could still obtain Wayne's extradition by promising that he will obtain kosher food in his Florida prison or that he will serve his sentence in one of the 35 other states, or in a federal prison, that provide kosher food. However, according to Haaretz, "Florida has refused to allow Wayne to receive kosher food in prison even if he pays for it privately, and insists he must begin serving his sentence in Florida while awaiting the proceedings to transfer him to another state."
