Canada Judge Rules Against Bembenek

TORONTO — A judge ruled Monday that the United States may proceed with its extradition request for Lawrencia (Bambi) Bembenek, a onetime Milwaukee police officer who escaped from a Wisconsin prison while serving a life term for murder.

Ontario Court Judge David Watt said proceedings against the 33-year-old former Playboy Club waitress do not violate her rights under Canadian law.

She has sought refugee status here, claiming she was framed in the 1981 killing of Christine Schultz, the ex-wife of her then-husband.

Bembenek’s lawyers have argued that she should not be returned to the United States until her refugee claim is decided. It was stalled last December by the U.S. government’s extradition request.

Watt said U.S. authorities had properly followed the rules of the U.S.-Canada extradition treaty, and he said it is not his role to decide her guilt or innocence.