Bishop says pastors will have to reassess helping wanted men to surrender

Bishop Herro Blair says pastors will now have to reassess their involvement in helping wanted persons to surrender to the police following this morning’s sentencing of his fellow clergyman, Reverend Al Miller.

Blair was among the people who packed the courtroom at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court‎ for Miller's sentencing.

Pastors often accompany wanted men to the authorities but after the sentencing, Blair told The Gleaner that the conviction and sentencing is a lesson for his colleagues who work with the security forces:

Blair, says he could have been the one convicted as Coke had first asked first for his help to  surrender.

LISTEN:  Thank God it's over, says Al Miller on www.soundcloud.com/JamaicaGleaner

This morning, Parish Judge Simone Wolfe Reece imposed a $1 million fine or 12 months imprisonment on Miller for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Miller was convicted in July, that's six years after then fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was found travelling in his vehicle along the Mandela Highway in St Catherine.

The pastor claimed he was taking Coke to the United States Embassy to surrender to American authorities.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force maintained that Coke was a fugitive and that at no time was it informed of any plan for Miller to accompany him to the embassy.

‎Before passing sentence, Wolfe Reece cautioned Miller not to believe that he stands above the law because of the work he has done before.