According to an article published March, 20, 2009, the District Attorney has a conflict of interest and has requested the appointment of a special prosecutor. Until the state Attorney General clears the conflict, the case will remain on hold.

A hearing in the case of Michael Jason Registe, who is fighting his extradition to Georgia on murder charges, hasn’t been scheduled and likely won’t happen until June, a St. Maarten prosecutor said Tuesday.

The high court of the Netherlands Antilles recommended Dec. 23 to extradite Registe back to Columbus, though his attorney filed an appeal to the High Council of the Netherlands in The Hague shortly afterward.

Taco Stein, chief prosecutor, said that it takes a few months for a hearing date to be set.

“It’s only points of law that will be discussed,” Stein said. “It might be June. Because he’s in detention, we might give him some priority.”

The Dec. 23 recommendation by the high court was to the island’s governor, who will decide whether to extradite Registe. That decision has been postponed pending a decision from The Hague.

Stein said neither he nor Registe’s attorney, Rumco Stomp, would be at the appeal hearing.

Instead, a prosecutor in a branch office and a attorney skilled in appeal issues, who represents Registe, will speak before the High Council.

Rienk Mud, a prosecutor in Stein’s office, has said he had no concerns about Registe’s return to Georgia.

Because Registe is a U.S. citizen, he ultimately will come back to Columbus, Mud said.