KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tesha Miller pleaded not guilty to being the leader of a criminal organisation on Wednesday morning as the arraignment of the alleged Klansman boss and his 24 co-accused got underway in the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston for the long-anticipated trial.

Miller, who is currently serving 38 years at hard labour for engineering the 2008 murder of former Jamaica Urban Transit Company Chairman Douglas Chambers, is answering to charges under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) (Amendment) Act, commonly called the anti-gang law, for leadership of the Klansman gang. He is charged on more than 10 counts of the 32-count indictment.

He and the 24 other accused now facing trial are alleged to have participated in several criminal activities between August 5, 2017 and August 22, 2022 in St Catherine. The charges include murder, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravation, illegal possession of firearm, and illegal possession of ammunition.

Miller is the only defendant named on count one of the indictment which charges leadership of a criminal organisation.

He and the 24 other accused have pleaded not guilty to all counts with which they have been charged, including the second count of the indictment for the offence of being part of a criminal organisation.

— Alicia Dunkley-Willis