VIDEO recordings and photos of “some or all” accused in the ongoing trial of 25 alleged members of the Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman Gang, supposedly taken by cops on Tuesday at the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, are to be scrutinised by trial judge Justice Dale Palmer after concerns were raised by a member of the defence team who saw the episode.

The issue came to the fore on Wednesday morning just ahead of an early adjournment of the trial because of administrative challenges. Defence attorney Tamika Harris, in alerting Palmer, said she “observed police officers at the court taking photographs and videos of the accused men as they left the precincts of the court in the [prison] truck”.

“The police officers were there for an extended period, and this was witnessed not just by me, but including [the deputy superintendent of police in charge of court security]. All of the police officers were cognisant of the fact that I was saying, ‘These men are on trial, and they are not yet identified by the main witness, and therefore there should be no situation, under no circumstances, where their photographs and videos are taken’,” Harris recounted for the hushed courtroom.

“They [footage and images] were taken by police officers in marked police vests; that was [Tuesday] at about one o’clock. Whilst I was protesting, I was told that I do not need to protest because ‘all a dem man yah pictcha inna di police database already’. Those were the exact words that were used,” she reported further.

Wednesday, an acting deputy director of public prosecutions who leads the three-member prosecutorial team which has been martialing the evidence in the trial, in responding to Harris’s revelation, said the Crown had been unaware of the occurrence.

Justice Palmer, in relaying Harris’s observations to the deputy superintendent of police in charge of court security who had been summoned to explain, was at pains to point out that he had “not been told of any proper basis on which that [taking of videos or photos of accused] ought to be done in the course of a trial, or at all, without the proper authorisation”.

“As you can well appreciate, as the tribunal of fact in this matter, I don’t have statements and so on, and so if it is that we are still at a very early stage in these proceedings, I believe it should go without saying…that there ought to be no images or videos taken of any of the defendants during the course of a trial, and if any has been taken, they are to be destroyed. They are to be deleted. It is highly improper,” Justice Palmer, who is trying the matter, stated.

The deputy superintendent of police, however, in a terse response to the trial judge, explained that Harris’s account was “not the case”. He explained that the communications arm (CCU) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force has been compiling a feature on the work of its Specialised Operations team at various locations where they are deployed.

“So when the persons from the CCU came [Tuesday], nothing specifically of these accused were taken,” he explained, adding that when the truck was being boarded the footage taken was only of the police personnel providing safety and security.

Several of the accused, however, muttered, “Nah, nooo,” shaking their heads in the negative in insisting that their images had been captured, contrary to the indications of the deputy superintendent of police.

Harris was equally adamant.

“I witnessed the camera pointed to the accused men…” she declared.

Said Justice Palmer: “If there are images that capture any of these defendants, it is not to be published; it is not to be shared. It is not to be reproduced, really, it ought to be obliterated from any of these recordings. I believe it should go without saying that it ought not to be shared or reproduced to witnesses in this matter.”

Wading into the discussion, defence attorney Petreta Gabbidon maintained that, “As it stands now, we are taking it that the men’s identities are compromised, unless we can get those equipment here to see what was taken at the time and dissected.”

“We don’t know what was taken at the time, and for my clients, they have seen their pictures and videos being taken…it is concerning for the defence,” Gabbidon said.

Said Justice Palmer: “I’m wondering, when you say identity compromised… We’re not at the stage where persons are going to be taken to, for example, an identification parade for persons to say I may or may not know the persons and would now have the benefit of identifying them and, of course, I don’t know that there’s a point where we will be going into dock identification of anybody who doesn’t know or purport to know particular individuals. While I do take the concern, when you say identification has been compromised, we are not at the stage where persons are just held and an identification parade is to be conducted.”

Justice Palmer, in noting that “it made no sense that an open and obvious exercise recording of the men” where it could be seen by an attorney who objected, could be done for nefarious reasons, said, “I’m just saying we just have to be practical.”

“I have given the directive that if it is just out of an abundance of caution, there is an image that was taken, whether intentionally or inadvertently, that it is not to be reproduced or shared,” he said.

Commenting further, Harris said, “Milord, at least the police ought not to be given just a warning, I think the matter ought to be [escalated]. Perhaps the commissioner of police needs to explain why police officers are taking photographs of accused men in the middle of a trial.”

Justice Palmer, in then requesting sight of the material, said, “If I can have it by Monday, or at least an indication as to how soon that it can be had, so that I can better respond and advise myself.”

The judge was subsequently told the footage would be made available to him by Wednesday afternoon. The trial in the meantime was adjourned to March 16.

The 25 accused — the second faction of the gang to now be tried by the courts — are to answer to 16 offences allegedly committed over the span of five years between August 2017 and November 2022, according to the case being built by the Crown.