Tesha Miller gets nod to obtain audio of judge’s summation

Reputed ex-don of the Spanish Town-based Clansman Gang Tesha Miller, who was sentenced in January 2020 to 38 years and nine months in prison, has successfully applied to the Court of Appeal to get audio recordings of the judge’s summation at his trial.

Miller is accusing the judge who sentenced him of being hostile towards him at his trial.

He was convicted in relation to the June 2008 murder of Douglas Chambers, the then chairman of the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

Miller was found guilty by a seven-member jury on December 3, 2019. He gave an unsworn statement at his trial, declaring his innocence.

An ex-gang member had testified that Miller ordered the murder of Chambers who was shot and killed outside the main gate of the JUTC depot in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

Miller, who is being represented by attorney-at-law John Clarke, had filed an application in December last year, seeking several orders.

One of Miller’s contentions was that the judge who presided at his trial adopted a hostile attitude towards him whenever he spoke and among other things constantly disrupted his counsel.

Miller stated in his affidavit that the “frequency, tone and overall mannerism of the judge cannot be adequately reflected in writing” and only the provision of an audio recording could suffice to evidence the injustice.

The court in granting Miller’s application, in part, ruled that the registrar of the Court of Appeal as a matter of urgency is directed to request the typewritten notes of the plea proceedings conducted on November 13, 2019, and the audio recording of Miller’s trial in November 2019.

On receipt of the material, the registrar is to supply copies of them to the applicant and the director of public prosecutions.

Miller’s lawyers have been directed to file their submissions and authorities before March 10 while the Crown is to file documents before March 17.

Miller’s application to adduce fresh evidence will be determined at the hearing of the application for leave to appeal.

Miller’s application for a certified copy of the whole of the notes which the judge took at the trial was refused. Applications for the typewritten transcript of the original sentencing of the Crown witness who testified at his trial and the judge’s written report giving her opinion on the case generally were refused.

The Crown was represented by prosecutors Janek Forbes and Alice-Ann Gabbidon.