Accused murderer tries to block extradition from Thailand

BANGKOK, THAILAND - A fugitive millionaire accused of arranging his estranged wife&#39;s slaying is expected to argue Wednesday in Thailand that Irish citizenship should prevent his extradition to the United States. <br> <br> Sixty-one-year-old James Vincent Sullivan is accused of paying someone $25,000 to kill Lita McClinton Sullivan to avoid losing property in a costly divorce. A gunman posing as a flower deliveryman shot the 35-year-old woman in the head at her home in Atlanta January 16, 1987. <br> <br> Sullivan&#39;s lawyers will argue against extradition because the Republic of Ireland opposes capital punishment and the extradition of its citizens to countries with the death penalty. <br> <br> Sullivan holds an Irish passport and dual American and Irish citizenship. Americans with a parent or grandparent born in Ireland are eligible for dual Irish citizenship. <br> <br> Sullivan&#39;s attorney in Atlanta -- Ed Garland -- says bringing him back to the United States would deny Sullivan&#39;s fundamental rights as an Irish citizen. <br> <br> The prosecutor assigned to the case, Anna Green, predicts little conflict with the Thai government on the matter because Thailand has the death penalty. <br> <br> Sullivan -- an international fugitive since his 1998 indictment -- was arrested at his beach resort condominium about 100 miles south of Bangkok in July.