Amit Livingston was on the lam for 7 years.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American fugitive from Texas, who has been on the lam since 2007, was finally arrested by Indian authorities in Hyderabad late last week.
Amit Muddamalli Livingston (46) was initially convicted in 2007, under charges of having murdered his then-girlfriend, Hermilia Garcia Hernandez (31). According to reports, Livingston and Hernandez were in a relationship for some time, but when Livingston told her that he wanted to get married, she rebuffed him. In 2005, Livingston shot Hernandez in the back of her head.
On April 14, 2007, Livingston was convicted of the murder by Judge Abel Limas, of the 404th Judicial District Court of Cameron County, Texas (the southern-most county in the state, bordering Mexico). However, Limas and the then-District Attorney, Armando Villalobos, allowed Livingston to leave jail for a period of a few days, so that he could get his affairs in order before his 23-year sentence commenced.
Livingston, however, ran, and his whereabouts for the better part of seven years remained a mystery. Limas and Villalobos were found to have been complicit in a corruption scheme, through which Limas allowed Livingston to leave the custody of the courts so that he could run – both the judge and District Attorney were tried and convicted on these charges.
Now, Livingston is back in police custody, with preparations being made to extradite him back to US soil. According to the Press Trust of India, Livingston got into India by using fake identification papers, and was staying in Hyderabad under a false name. Andhra Pradesh police had been tracking Livingston for about a year, and were able to gather enough information to confirm that it was, indeed, the south Texas fugitive.
No timeline has been given as to how long it will take Livingston to get back to Texas, nor what effect his flight to India for seven years will have on his 23 year-long jail sentence.