Al Miller's lawyers want judge to step down

Attorneys for the Reverend Al Miller are seeking to have the presiding judge recuse herself from his trial for assisting accused drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Miller, the head of Fellowship Tabernacle church, is on trial in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on charges of perverting the course of justice and harbouring a fugitive.

The charges were laid against the pastor after he was found in a car in the company of then fugitive Coke along the Mandela Highway, St Catherine, in June last year.

Coke had been on the run after an arrest warrant was issued for him in relation to an extradition request from the United States.

Today in court, Miller's lawyer, Wentworth Charles, argued that Justice Georgiana Fraser should recuse herself from the trial because she was the magistrate who signed the warrant for Coke's arrest.

In making the request, Charles noted that the defence was not accusing the judge of bias but felt that, given the circumstances, she should step down.

However, Fraser said she would not recuse herself from the trial.

The trial was then adjourned until February 16 when Miller's lawyers are to present their case seeking the removal of the presiding judge.

In the meantime, Miller's lawyers said they would be challenging the decision of Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne to go ahead with the extradition proceedings against Coke because there was doubt regarding the validity of the request by the United States.