Man freed of cocaine charges 17 years later

WESTERN BUREAU:

Seventeen years after he was arrested on cocaine charges and his case adjourned sine die without a clear date for continuation, Mickey Miller left the St James Parish Court a free man after all the charges against him were dismissed on Friday.

Miller, who was charged in 2007 with possession of, dealing in, attempting to export, and conspiracy to export three pounds and 1.19 ounces of cocaine, was freed by presiding Parish Judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton after the prosecution offered no further evidence against him on all counts.

“Mr Miller, in respect of these matters, the clerk of the court indicated that she has assessed the file, and based on what is there, the Crown would be unable to mount a successful prosecution in respect of this matter. She has also indicated that in the interest of justice, the Crown is offering no evidence against you. In relation to all of these four charges that are before the court, you are discharged, and I can now say this is the end of these matters,” Fairclough-Hylton told Miller resolutely.

The decision to free Miller of all the charges came after the clerk of the court acknowledged that no justification could be found as to why Miller’s case had not been brought back before the court in the intervening years after the matter against him was adjourned sine die.

One day prior to the case’s dismissal, Miller’s attorney, Charles Sinclair, made submissions in which he pointed to the lengthy delay in his client’s case being addressed and brought before the court following the original sine die adjournment, declaring that delay as a breach of judicial protocol.

“When I sought to get instructions from him, after 17 years Mr Miller was having a challenge telling me whether people went in the witness box, or what happened in court. He just knew that the matter was brought to an end and he was given back his documents and he went abroad,” Sinclair told the court during his submissions on Thursday, April 18.

“It is my submission that this matter should not go any further, save and except a disposition via an acquittal against Mr Miller. Does this court have the jurisdiction to do that? The court does,” Sinclair added. “Abuse [of the judicial process] can arise in many forms, and very often the grounds for abuse is delay. The court has an inescapable duty to secure fairness to those who are brought before them.”

Stop order was still in effect

Additionally, during Thursday’s hearing of the matter, it was disclosed that Miller’s case came back before the court this year after he was reportedly told by immigration personnel that the stop order which had been previously imposed on him was still in effect, when he brought documentation to them for permission to leave the island while undergoing an unrelated court case.

Interestingly, the court was told that Miller was the one who initially brought the matter to the court’s attention in February this year, leading to his case being put back on the prosecution’s case list.

The prosecution had previously indicated on March 1 this year that a missing witness in its case against Miller had been found, and that it was subsequently prepared to proceed against him. It has not been made clear whether the witness in question is Miller’s former co-accused, Ishell Mhlophe.

Miller and Mhlophe were arrested and charged on May 18, 2007, when both were reportedly checking in at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay to leave the country.

According to the allegations at the time, Mhlophe was preparing to board a flight to London, England, when her suitcase was searched and two plastic bottles were found inside it. The bottles were found to contain a substance which tested positive for cocaine.

Under questioning from the on-duty officer, Mhlophe reportedly pointed out Miller, who was also in the boarding line for the London flight, as the one who gave her the substance. Under caution, Miller allegedly addressed Mhlophe and said, “You chat too much, if you did keep your mouth, you and your pickney dem woulda all right,” following which both were arrested and charged.

The case against Miller was later adjourned sine die after a warrant was issued for the arrest of Mhlophe, who failed to return to court in 2007 despite being on bail. On March 26 this year, the court was told that Mhlophe’s warrant was still in effect.