US jails Jamaican drug lord
New York - A U.S. federal judge on Friday
sentenced Jamaican drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to 23 years in
prison, ending a long struggle by U.S. authorities to lock up a powerful
figure who had evaded capture with the aid of Jamaican authorities.
Coke, 43, was given the maximum sentence following a deal in which he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and assault charges.
Coke, wearing a gray prison
jumpsuit, sat stoically through most of Friday's proceedings in U.S.
District Court in Manhattan, but spoke briefly before Judge Robert
Patterson.
“I am a good person,” Coke said in
asking the judge for consideration of what he said were the positive
things he had done in his native Jamaica.
Patterson, however, chose to give
Coke the maximum allowable sentence - 20 years on the trafficking charge
and three on the assault - and have them run consecutively.
Coke's attorney, Stephen Rosen,
said he was disappointed that Patterson did not allow the sentences to
run concurrently, but added they would not appeal the sentence. Rosen
estimated that Coke would be eligible for release around the time he is
60, and will be allowed then to return to Jamaica. - Reuters
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