'Dudus' gets court papers

NEW YORK, USA — Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the former Tivoli Gardens strongman whom Jamaica extradited last month to face drug and gun charges here, has started to receive court papers setting out the allegations against him.

Coke's court-appointed attorney, Russell Nuefeld, confirmed to the Observer yesterday that prosecutors have started to hand over evidence in the case to the defence. However, he said that he was not in a position to comment on the documents at this time because "a lot more is expected".

Last month, prosecutors indicated that it could take up to two months to complete the handing-over process due to the volume and the international nature of some of the documents.

Responding to questions in the Jamaica community here, Nuefeld said that Coke "has the right of appeal, should he be convicted on any of the charges against him".

In the meantime, sources at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the case against Coke, declined to comment on a report that the US Government may not require Coke's defence team to prove that money to be used by the accused drug lord to pay his legal expenses was not obtained illegally.

When Coke appeared in court last month US Federal Judge Robert P Patterson gave him 30 days to settle his legal representation. He is scheduled to return to court on September 7.

Coke on June 24 waived his right to an extradition hearing, two days after he was captured along the Mandela Highway in St Catherine in the company of Rev Al Miller, who said he was taking the fugitive to the United States Embassy in Kingston, the Jamaican capital. Miller has since been charged with harbouring a fugitive and perverting the course of justice.

The former Tivoli Gardens strongman pleaded not guilty when he appeared in a New York Federal Court on June 25, and was remanded in custody on his second appearance on June 28.

Coke is charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to illegally traffic in firearms. If convicted on the narcotics charge, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, as well as a fine of up to US$4 million or twice the pecuniary gain from the offence. He also faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the firearms trafficking charge, and a fine of up to US$250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain.

The US Government had sent the extradition request to Jamaica last August, but the administration refused to sign the documents after claiming that the evidence against Coke -- who resided in Prime Minister Bruce Golding's West Kingston constituency and who had been a strong supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party -- was illegally obtained. The ruling party had even engaged the US law firm, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to help lobby the American Government to fight the extradition.

The Government finally signed the order for an extradition hearing after coming under severe public pressure and calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Golding.

Members of the security forces who stormed into Tivoli Gardens to serve the arrest warrant on Coke were met with heavy gunfire from armed men loyal to Coke. A soldier and more than 70 civilians were killed in a subsequent gunfight and dozens, including members of the security forces, injured. Coke, who was said to be in Tivoli when the security forces entered the community on Monday, May 24, escaped and was on the run until his capture.