The News4 I-Team has learned a fake medical professional won't face more than a year in jail if she's convicted in the silicone injection death of a Maryland woman.
Kelly Mayhew died in 2015 after traveling to New York for the cosmetic procedure. Court records show Mayhew went into distress after having several syringes of liquid silicone injected into her buttocks.
New York detectives told the I-Team the suspect, Donna Francis, fled her makeshift medical office in a Queens basement when paramedics arrived and then quickly boarded a plane for England.
"It is frustrating because they're out of the country so you're dealing with a whole different process. The process took a lot longer than we thought or than we're accustomed to," NYPD Detective Michael Naus told the I-Team last year.
Prosecutors later agreed to limit the possible sentence in an effort to convince the British judge to return Francis to the U.S. to stand trial.
Francis' attorneys fought extradition saying she suffers from depression, needs to remain in England near her 5-year-old daughter, and that the jail conditions in New York are poor.
Thursday, a judge in London's Westminster Magistrate's Court ruled that Francis should have to return to face the charges, including criminally negligent homicide.
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Detectives say Francis was not a licensed medical professional. Plus, liquid silicone is not approved for cosmetic use anywhere on the body. Doctors say it can be deadly when a tiny ball of the liquid travels through the bloodstream.
The judge's ruling now goes to the U.K. Secretary of State for approval. Then Francis will have a chance to appeal; so it will still be several months before anything happens.
Francis has been free on bail in London. The I-Team caught up with her there after a hearing last December, but she and her attorneys declined to comment on the case.
Mayhew's mother accompanied her daughter to New York for the procedure and was in the room during the procedure. She told the I-Team she's still too upset to speak of her daughter's death, but she would like to see justice.
