Klansman Gang trial judge orders defence lawyers to control clients in dock

Justice Dale Palmer, presiding over the judge-alone trial of 25 men alleged to belong to the Tesha Miller-led arm of the Klansman Gang, on Tuesday directed defence counsel to keep their clients in check after the prosecution flagged repeated reactions from the dock.

The lead prosecutor, who has been guiding the Crown's evidence, told the court he had grown uneasy at what he described as a recurring pattern. “Milord, I have a concern, I’ve noticed each time the Crown [makes a submission] there is a chorus of murmurs from the dock and certain expressions. I would ask that counsel rein in their clients Milord because I find it rather unsettling in the face of the court to be doing that,” he said.

Responding, Justice Palmer made plain that the behaviour would not be tolerated from any quarter. “Not even counsel ought to be doing that in the hearing of the court and certainly [it] will not be countenanced from the dock either. I expect counsel can have words with their clients,” he said.

The judge added a further reprimand directed at the accused. “They can speak with their counsel. There doesn’t need to be a chorus of remarks; it is certainly undesirable,” he stated.

Senior defence attorney Paul Gentles offered an apology and assured the court the defendants would be spoken to. Justice Palmer accepted the undertaking, telling him, “It is accepted Counsel and it is certainly assumed that it is not being encouraged by Counsel.” He went on to remark, “Not being familiar with court procedures, I know sometimes the uninitiated lay persons may do things that would not normally be countenanced by the court.”

The friction had been triggered when the prosecution signalled that the forensic crime scene investigator who worked the scene of an August 14, 2017 murder in St Andrew would not finish giving evidence until May, owing to technical difficulties with some of the material he was due to address. Several defendants responded with hisses and grumbles, while others screwed up their faces in apparent disgust as the Crown spoke.

That strand of evidence relates to counts five and six of the indictment, which accuse Tesha Miller, Rolando Jermaine Hall and Michael Wildman of murdering Kevin Green and of wounding Andre Anderson with intent.

Elsewhere in the proceedings, the Crown moved further into its case against Michael Wildman, Jerome Spike, Nashuan Guest and Geovaughni McDonald, who are accused under counts 15 and 16 of “knowingly facilitated the commission” of the 2020 robbery and killing of a man known as Noah Smith in St Andrew.

A man who had known Smith took the stand on Tuesday morning and fought visibly to keep his composure as he recalled travelling to a Kingston morgue on March 9, 2020 to identify the body. “I know him from a baby,” he said, drawing a heavy breath as he clenched his jaw and blinked back tears.

His composure broke when he was asked to describe Smith’s appearance at the morgue. “He was lying on his back with a gunshot wound to his forehead. [His] front teeth was licked out. He was there lying down lifeless,” he eventually said, eyes shut and sniffling.

Shown a photograph and asked whether it depicted the same person he had identified, the witness glanced at it, flipped it face down and replied, “As I said, I know him from birth, so I know his face!” Moments later he added, his voice unsteady, “Yes, yes this is Andy (alias) Noah Smith.”

The Crown has so far disclosed little about the circumstances of Smith’s death or his identity, leaving that aspect of the case largely opaque. The 25 defendants, drawn from what prosecutors describe as the second faction of the gang now before the courts, face 16 charges said to span the period between August 2017 and November 2022.