Defendants’ shuffle fails to prevent cop from identifying accused

Security close to the Supreme Court where the trial of 25 alleged members of the Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman Gang is ongoing. Observer file photo Defence attorneys in the trial of 25 alleged members of the Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman Gang received another round of scolding from trial judge Justice Dale Palmer last Friday after their poor attendance in court forced a halt to testimony from a police witness. At the same time, a challenge by the defence to have the cop, a deputy superintendent, identify one of the accused fell flat after the cop was sent out of the courtroom, the men in the docks switched seats, and he was recalled to pick out the defendant. The cop, who said in June 2020 he was assigned to the Major Investigative Division (MID), had taken the stand to give evidence of his interactions with accused Klansman gangster Charles McLeary following a double murder on Friday, June 26, 2020, in John’s Hall, Clarendon. According to prosecutors, McLeary — along with co-accused Bjourn Thomas, Sharn Gilzene, Conroy Cadogan and Kemar Francis — knowingly facilitated the commission of a serious offence with the murder of Jermaine Jones and Allen Cameron on that day. They were taken into custody following a highway chase and the two motor cars in which they were travelling in seized. Last Thursday, a police detective had testified that he discovered two firearms hidden in one of the vehicles which had been driven by McLeary, who is a former Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus driver. The detective told the court that a silver and black 9-millimetre Beretta pistol with the magazine affixed and a black Smith & Wesson Springfield .40 calibre pistol with a magazine affixed were discovered. On Friday, the prosecution was in the process of having the cop read into the records a statement collected from McLeary two days after the killings when objections were raised by defence attorney Kamisha Mitto who was holding for attorney Denise Hinson. Mitto said she was intervening based on instructions from attorneys Javed Grant and Kymberli Whittaker who represent McLeary but who were also absent. Mitto had taken up the slack as attorney Kimberly Wong — who had indicated during the roll call that she would hold for McLeary’s legal representative — had left the courtroom at that point in the proceedings. Speaking in the stead of the two absent attorneys Mitto contended that the “voluntariness” of the statement was in question as it was taken “in the dead of night” and while McLeary was “a suspect at the time”. Asked by the trial judge to clarify the objection Mitto said, “The circumstances of how the statement was taken, no justice of the peace was present and he was a suspect at the time, he was in the custody of the police, and he was not free to go”. Attorney Petreta Gabbidon, in a further submission, told the trial judge, “Given the circumstances that Mr McLeary’s attorneys are not present and the direction where the Crown is going I would ask that caution be exercised. Mr McLeary is not properly represented at this time, even though counsel holds [it is] with limited instructions”. In his response, Justice Palmer said, “I have been at pains in this matter to remind counsel… you either hold, or you don’t hold… It has been accepted as a practice that ‘hold’ means ‘hold’ for the purposes of trial… to rise to say he is not properly represented would be a concerning thing to say when they indicated that they hold for counsel.” The judge further pointed out that given indications by some defence counsel the day prior that they would not be present for the hearing, he had made allowances for cross examination of the witness to be done on Monday. “A holding brief is a very important and serious thing… counsel rose to say she holds and that she has even received instructions… so it is a curious position to say it is a limited holding brief… I wonder if persons are appreciating the seriousness of indicating that they hold… Counsel have certain obligations to the court and to the defendants. If you say you have a holding brief, then you need to discharge that responsibility,” Justice Palmer stated. Pointing out that 26 of the 29 defence counsel were absent, including all the attorneys who represent McLeary, Justice Palmer said it was an “untenable state of affairs”. He pointed out that there have been multiple days during the trial when the court has had to rise, waiting for attorneys to appear. Justice Palmer subsequently adjourned the trial to next Monday, at which point the cop will continue his evidence. Meanwhile, the cop, in the initial stages of his evidence, said upon visiting the scene of the shootings — where he saw the bodies of the dead men in a bullet-riddled bus in which they were travelling — he counted 14 spent casings on the asphalted road which were from a 9 millimetre weapon, and one a .40 casing. Before his evidence was truncated, the senior cop successfully picked McLeary from among his 24 co-accused despite the fact that the seating in the docks had been reshuffled at the request of the defence. The reshuffle, which was opposed by the Crown, saw the accused men, who occupy two docks, swapping seating positions while the cop waited on the outside. The cop had been asked if he would be able to identify McLeary if he saw him again before he left the courtroom. On returning to the courtroom the deputy superintendent walked briskly to the first dock then headed to the second dock where, after looking intently at the men seated in the second row, declared, “There he is,” and pointed at McLeary, who was seated third from left. Amidst loud grumbles McLeary — after obeying the judge’s request to stand and state his name — returned to his original spot in the main dock. The 25 accused — the second faction of the gang to now be tried by the courts — are to answer to 16 offences allegedly committed over the span of five years between August 2017 and November 2022, according to the case being built by the Crown. In the matter which began in February this year, the prosecution, in unveiling what it said was the “anatomy” of the gang, said it would be leading evidence to show that members acted as drivers, among them Thomas and Francis, along with the accused Dwayne Frater, and Travis Drummond. According to the prosecution, it would establish that McLeary was linked, by employment, and by role in the criminal organisation.