Gov. Norm Bangerter said Friday he will reserve judgment on whether he will extradite Sandy businessman Michael T. MacKay, who is wanted by Illinois authorities on murder charges.
The fourth request to bring MacKay back to Illinois was planned after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday, in a related case, that federal laws do not bar criminal prosecutions by the state over issues of workplace safety."A fourth extradition request is planned (for MacKay)," said Terry Levin, a spokesman for Cook County State's Attorney Richard M. Daley. But Levin said he did not know when the request would be made.
MacKay and four other defendants were charged with murder in the death of Stefan Golab, a 61-year-old Polish immigrant who collapsed and died while working for Film Recovery Systems Inc., a silver-recovery firm partly owned by MacKay's Utah business.
Golab's death was determined to have been caused by cyanide poisoning at the now-defunct plant, which used open vats of cyanide to strip silver from X-ray film.
Three previous MacKay extradition requests have been rejected by two different Utah governors, most recently by Bangerter in 1986.
"We will reserve judgment until we see the (new) request," Francine Giani, Bangerter's press secretary, said Friday. "The governor had made it clear on the previous (extradition petitions) where he stood, so I assume they'll have to have something new. When it happens, we'll take a look at it and go from there."
He also upbraided Illinois prosecutors, saying they had sent him only a "photocopy" of a previous filing.