Tesha Miller accuses trial judge of acting ‘improperly’

Reputed gangster Tesha Miller, who is seeking to overturn his conviction for ordering the murder of a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) head, claims the trial judge acted “improperly” by not handing over the case to another jurist.

The view was put forward by the businessman’s attorney, John Clarke, on Monday, as the Court of Appeal started to hear arguments in the matter. His other lawyer is Isat Buchanan.

Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn is leading the State’s response.

Miller has alleged injustice in the 2019 Home Circuit Court trial, pointing to the non-disclosure of certain recordings, the antecedents of an ex-gang member-turned-witness and the search of his house and removal of documents in his absence.

A major issue from Clarke’s submission yesterday was a claim of bias directed at Supreme Court judge Georgiana Fraser, who had dismissed an application by Miller’s attorneys to recuse herself from the matter.

Before Miller’s trial, Fraser sentenced the witness, a former member of Miller’s Clansman Gang, in an in-camera hearing, to 10 years for murder. Miller’s lawyers claim they were wrongfully prevented from entering the hearing though it was in open court.

The witness, who testified that Miller instructed convicted gangster Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan to murder the JUTC boss, was originally on a life sentence but was re-sentenced after striking a deal with the prosecution. Bryan was freed of charges in the case in 2016 but is awaiting sentencing in an unrelated matter.

“In this particular case, nothing irregular or wrong is being suggested on the part of the learned judge. But what is important is that justice should not merely be done but should be seen to be done,” Clarke said.

The lawyer also argued that there was the potential that the judge could have been forced act differently if the witness did not testify in accordance with the plea deal. He said there are concerns about why Fraser “found it necessary to defend herself and the prosecutor’s role”.

“The very need to defend herself and the re-sentencing process in the summation lead to the conflicted nature of her role in Miller’s trial. Furthermore ...her statutory right and role to take back any reduction based on the failure of [the witness] to deliver ensure that, after duly considering all the principles of recusal, that it was improper for her to hear this matter,” Clarke said.

Justice Jennifer Straw, one of the three justices hearing the appeal, asked Clarke to specifically show how Fraser’s role as sentencing judge in the witness’ case “coloured her summation” to the jury in Miller’s trial.

“Were there any errors of law or errors in relation to the facts that would have been coloured by her interest, then, in this matter. You have to assist us because you seem to be pulling from the re-sentencing exercise [and] importing that into the trial,” the judge queried.

Clarke responded that the issue would become clearer when he deals with the conduct of the trial in his submissions that will continue today.

JUTC Chairman Douglas Chambers was shot dead outside a bus depot in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on June 27, 2008.

The trial court accepted that Miller, who was accused of being the leader of the Spanish Town-based Clansman Gang, had given the order for Chambers to be killed.

A jury convicted Miller on charges of accessory before the fact to murder and accessory after the fact to murder in December 2019. He was sentenced the following month to 38 years and nine months on the former and 18 months on the latter.