<p>One of America's most wanted fugitives, James Vincent Sullivan, was returned by authorities Friday to the city where he is wanted for the 1987 murder of his socialite wife.</p><p>Sullivan arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and was immediately taken to the local jail, said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.</p><p>"He wasn't happy to see Fulton County Sheriff's Office," said Scott Page, one of the federal marshals who accompanied the 62-year-old on the 18-hour flight from Bangkok to Atlanta.</p><p>Next week, Sullivan is expected to appear in court. It is then that prosecutors will formally inform him that they are seeking the death penalty. A trial is expected early next year.</p><p>Lita McClinton Sullivan, 35, was fatally shot at the doorway of her Buckhead townhouse Jan. 16, 1987, by a gunman carrying a box of pink roses. The killing occurred hours before a pre-trial hearing in her bitterly contested divorce with James Sullivan.</p><p>Sullivan, a former Palm Beach, Fla., investor, is accused of arranging his estranged wife's murder.</p><p>His return to Atlanta ended a long wait for Lita Sullivan's parents.</p><p>"I am just pleased and happy," said Lita's mother, State Rep. Jo Ann McClinton, D-Atlanta. "I did feel that as long as we pursued him there was always hope. We never gave up hope on finding him."</p><p>Sullivan left the United States in 1998 around the time he was indicted by a grand jury for murder. He was captured in Thailand at a beach resort south of Bangkok in July 2002.</p><p>In 1992, Sullivan was prosecuted in absentia in federal court for making a telephone call across state lines to arrange for his wife's murder, but that case was dismissed for lack of evidence.</p><p>"We knew this day was going to come. We're going to be prepared for trial," said Don Samuel, one of James Sullivan's attorneys. "We're going to challenge the trial on double jeopardy grounds. We'll be ready."</p><p>Thai police handed over Sullivan to U.S. authorities on Thursday, and he was put on the flight to Atlanta on Friday.</p><p>Federal marshals said although Sullivan did not say much during his flight to the United States, he did not go easy.</p><p>"He was trying to make it as difficult as he could," Page said. "We had to tell him three or four times before he would do anything."</p><p>Sullivan suffered a swollen foot from an infection he developed while in prison in Thailand and he was wearing only one shoe while being escorted into the jail.</p><p>Last February, a former truck driver accused of being the trigger-man, Phillip Anthony Harwood, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for testimony against Sullivan.</p><p>Harwood, who was arrested in 1998, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Although Harwood admits being involved in the slaying, he denies being the gunman.</p>
