BALTIMORE — The man accused in the slaying of a New Berlin yoga master is fighting his extradition, a spokesman with the Pennsylvania state attorney general’s office said Friday, delaying his return to the Valley to face charges in the July killing of Sudharman.
Joel Robert Snider did not appear in Baltimore County Court on Thursday as scheduled.
He claims Pennsylvania authorities don’t have enough evidence to extradite him to the Valley to face murder charges, Selinsgrove state police trooper Wayne Ghrist said Friday.
Ghrist said he spoke to Maryland officials and Snider is still being held in Baltimore County because of the appeal.
“It might take a little more time,” Ghrist said. “But we will get him back.”
It may be another 30 days or so, Ghrist said.
Snider, 33, formerly of St. Louis, will face charges for the slaying of Sudharman, who operated the Integral Yoga Center in New Berlin.
Docket information provided on the District Court of Maryland’s website showed that Snider’s next court appearance on the fugitive from justice charge is scheduled for Oct. 10.
Snider was arrested in Maryland on July 7 and charged with one count of felony criminal homicide in the shooting death of Sudharman, once known as Joe Fenton, in what appears to be an assassination plot that spanned from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts.
State police Trooper Matthew Burrows said in July that Sudharman’s death was ruled a homicide after an autopsy revealed that the 70-year-old man had been shot multiple times with a small-caliber weapon. His body was found on the floor of his living quarters wrapped in two sheets and a comforter, and bound with duct tape. He had at least one gunshot wound to the neck.
