LETTER OF THE DAY - DPP should discontinue proceedings against Miller

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I THINK the Reverend Al Miller should benefit from the exercise of the power vested in the director of public prosecutions (DPP) under Section 94(3)(c) of our Constitution to discontinue the proceedings in the interest of substantial justice, which is not always available in any court, because decisions of courts are grounded in strict laws relevant to cases.

In this context, the power of the DPP was created to mitigate the rigours of the criminal law just as equity was invented to mitigate the rigours of civil laws, even those passed by Parliament, and by an act of our Parliament fashioned after an act of the British Parliament, provides, that where there is a conflict of laws and equity the rules of equity shall prevail.

The acts of Rev Miller, while they may constitute criminal offences - I am not saying that they do, for that is a matter for the courts - must be seen as acts of a minister of religion acting in good faith in not only preserving the life of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, but in returning to the preservation of peace in our land, and his land, which, undoubtedly, he loves dearly.

Incidentally, isn't it the practice for anyone going to the US Embassy to go there and wait until the embassy is open? And why should the pastor not try to avoid getting Dudus, who trusted him, into the hands of the State in which his father died while awaiting extradition?

The positive side is that, fortunately, Rev Miller had, as Ian Boyne writing in The Sunday Gleaner of July 4, stated, "Dudus trusted one man and one man only with his life." The result of that trust is history and has inured to the benefit of all of us and the safe extradition of Dudus to the US.

No room for niceties

May our DPP use that power and, by necessary implication, duty, in this case to enter nolle prosequi. There can be no more worthy case in the interest of substantial justice, as she undoubtedly knows that technical niceties should not defeat the ends of justice as provided in the institution of her office as a servant of the people and justice.

Perhaps she will say after reading this, "My dear Crosbie knows that justice is my life, why does he have to preach to me?" I say I am not preaching to you, but for the public to understand your indispensable function in the administration of justice as provided by the Constitution, the supreme law of the land.

Section 94 (3) (c) of the Constitution:

"The director of public prosecutions shall have power in any case, in which he considers it desirable so to do, to discontinue at any stage before judgment is delivered any such criminal proceedings instituted or undertaken by himself or any other person or authority."

I am, etc.,

OWEN S. CROSBIE

Mandeville

Manchester