US citizen Dean Fletcher

A public defender for Dean Jay Fletcher filed a motion Thursday saying the government is illegally keeping the currency.

U.S. marshals brought Fletcher to Honolulu last month after he allegedly escaped from a Tonga jail and sailed to American Samoa.

Court documents say he was indicted on a murder charge in the July death of his wife, Patricia Linne Kearney.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Butrick says the government seized the money in accordance with a treaty with Tonga. He says the cash is worth about $10,000.

Mr Fletcher was moved to Honolulu earlier this week from American Samoa, after the courts there had dismissed charges of entering the territory illegally.

After that dismissal he was handed over to US federal marshals who took him to Honolulu.

Tonga has sought to have Mr Fletcher extradited and Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Butrick has now filed an 8-page initial extradition request with the federal court in Honolulu.

He had sailed to Pago Pago after escaping from prison in Vava'u in September.

Photo: Tauva Esera