Al Miller remains upbeat despite conviction

“I respect the decision of the judge,” Miller said moments after his conviction by Kingston and St Andrew Parish Judge Simone Wolfe-Reece Friday.

“I respect it and I will leave it at that,” he added.

Miller appeared upbeat following his conviction as family members and congregants from his Fellowship Tabernacle church rallied around him outside the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court in Half-Way Tree St Andrew.

His legal team is expected to appeal the matter but not before he’s sentenced on September 15. After that, the conviction and the sentence — whatever it may be — will be appealed.

Legal watchers have said that Miller could be slapped with a hefty fine — in the region of $800,000 to $900,000.

Miller was charged after police officers stopped him on the Mandela Highway with former Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke in his motor vehicle, on June 22, 2010.

Coke was on the run at that time in an attempt to elude arrest. He was extradited to the United States to face drugs and gun-running charges the month after his arrest.

Miller’s defence is that he was transporting Coke to the US Embassy where security officers were waiting for him, in keeping with an agreement with then Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington.

However, Ellington refused to give evidence in the case.

Before handing down the guilty verdict , Wolfe-Reece that Miller was “seeking to evade local authority”.

She said she was “satisfied and I feel sure” that Miller committed the offence for which he has been charged — and found that his action throughtout was to “facilitate” Coke’s “desire”.

His bail has been extended.