KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jun 06 2015, – A Magistrate has ruled that Reverend Merrick ‘Al’ Miller has a case to answer in the corruption case brought against him following the 2010 arrest of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was wanted in the United States on drugs and gun running charges.
Resident Magistrate Simone Wolfe-Reese threw out the no-case submission filed by Rev Miller’s lawyers.
Miller, who will return to court on September 22, has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after Coke was found in a car he was driving.
The United States had requested the extradition of Coke but when the security forces moved in to arrest him on May 23, 2010, they came up against supporters of the drug kingpin resulting in the deaths of more than 70 people.
A Commission of Inquiry chaired by Barbadian jurist, Sir David Simmons, is probing the circumstances that led to the 2010 West Kingston incursion.
Four soldiers were also killed and more than 500 people arrested as the security forces battled gunmen loyal to Coke, who was eventually captured one month later.
In her ruling Friday, Magistrate Wolfe-Reece said that the clergyman had a case to answer.
Miller has denied the allegations and has maintained his innocence, saying that he was taking Coke to the United States Embassy in keeping with an agreement, when they were held.
