A man who is allegedly a US fugitive and wanted by the FBI on sexual assault accusations testified in court that there is “mass frenzy” surrounding his case while unsuccessfully attempting to apply reporting restrictions.
According to US prosecutors, the man is Nicholas Rossi, who is also accused of attacking women in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Ohio in addition to the 2008 rape of a 21-year-old in Utah.
The 34-year-old, who has never been to America, claims to be Arthur Knight, a victim of mistaken identity.
In connection with his extradition, the man—who provided his name only as Knight—appeared before Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
According to reports, he pretended to die and then went to Scotland to avoid being charged.
Photos taken today when he arrived at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in the back of a private ambulance showed him seated in a wheelchair and donning an oxygen mask.
He was dressed in black slippers, a dressing gown, and burgundy pajamas.
Miranda Knight, his wife, was also spotted leaving for court today.
After being accused of threatening two hospital doctors at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Rossi was remanded in custody last week. In August, he will stand trial for the various alleged offenses.
Rossi is thought to have been arrested in Glasgow earlier this year after being given COVID-19 during hospital admission.
In light of the criminal case in Glasgow, Sheriff Alistair Noble on Tuesday considered a motion to postpone the extradition proceedings against him until Thursday.
The fictitious hearing will be postponed to Thursday, according to Sheriff Noble.
The man then attempted to limit press coverage by submitting his own motion to the court while acting in his own behalf.
He claimed that the case had “turned into a media circus” and that there was “mass hysteria” surrounding it.
The media, he claimed, had broken the law by “constantly referring to me as Nicholas Rossi.”
“I would propose that it is vitally crucial that this issue be adjudicated so as not to include the public humiliation I have endured,” the guy claiming to be Mr. Knight told the court.
Sheriff Noble, though, asserted, “I have not heard anything that would support making any form of order.”
There was no chance of case prejudice, according to the sheriff, because the subject would be decided by a judge rather than a jury.
The suspect quoted Sherlock Holmes as stating, “The game’s started,” as he was being rolled back to his ambulance. The game is on.
His wife had sat in the courtroom’s dock while the suspect himself sat at a table often used by attorneys in Edinburgh.
He was using “all means conceivable,” according to information provided to Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month, to stall the extradition process.
Julie Clark, the prosecutor in the unrelated case to the US extradition request, stated last week that Rossi has been named as the suspect by police witnesses and medical experts.
At Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, the suspect was charged last Thursday with acting aggressively toward a consultant and senior charge nurse (QEUH).
At the Glasgow court, Ms. Clark stated, “This man has denied that he is that person and has refused to give DNA or fingerprints to evidence that position.”
Rossi reportedly told US media in December 2019 that his non-Hodgkin lymphoma is in the late stages and that he only has a few weeks to live.
He had a memorial obituary that was posted online, and numerous publications noted that he had passed away in February 2020.