A juror in the Mario Miller murder trial has been sentenced to 14 days in prison for contempt of court after being accused of “gross interference” by the judge.
Justice Anita Allen handed down the ruling on Lana Bain yesterday afternoon, saying she was convinced that Bain was aware that Ryan Beneby was the brother of accused murderers Ryan Miller and Ricardo Miller.
Justice Allen told the court she believed the sworn and unchallenged testimony of a witness who indicated that the work relationship between Bain and Beneby called for close and constant interaction.
The judge said she was also convinced that Bain – one of the nine women initially picked -to the 12-member jury – intended not to adhere to the oath she took when she was selected.
Justice Allen said that the juror’s actions amounted to “gross interference” with justice and that her ruling would demonstrate the seriousness of the court.
Bain appeared before Justice Anita Allen yesterday morning to give reason why she should not be held in contempt of court and punished for failure to disclose that she knew the brother of the accused men.
The trial of the brothers began on January 16.
Justice Allen was expected to give her summary of the case earlier this week, but the trial had to be thrown out when it was discovered that Bain had a working relationship with Beneby.
On Monday, Justice Allen dismissed the jurors and now the case will be retried, which will mean calling nearly 30 persons to the witness stand again.
Bain, who was represented by lawyer Sidney Collie, denied that she bad a close working relationship with Brian Beneby.
She told Justice Allen that at the hotel where she works as a food and beverage waitress, she had spoken to Beneby “maybe ļ¾ once or twice”.
Bain denied that she worked in close proximity to Beneby or had extended conversations with him during the three years he worked at the hotel as a lifeguard.
Attorney Bernard Turner , questioned whether the juror had not seen any facial similarities between Brian Beneby and the accused men Ryan and Ricardo Miller.
Bain replied “no” and stated that she had never seen Beneby take the witness stand or appear in court. She said that if she had, she would have told prosecutors that she recognised him.
Justice Allen questioned her as to whether, after 15 days of sitting as a juror and hearing the name Ryan Beneby brought up several times, she did not think that she knew a Brian and that he might be the one.
Bain said “no”, adding that she “did not know Brian like that and did not even know his last name”.
Brian Beneby’s name was brought up several times during the trial.
Evidence given by police Inspector Ricardo Taylor indicated that on June 26, he authorised that a white Nissan Sunny registered to Brian Beneby be towed from Nassau International Airport to the criminal records compound.
Police corporal 88 Kervin Jones, of the criminal records office, testified that on July 3, 2002, he was given keys to the same vehicle and while searching the car, discovered a small amount of suspected blood on the inside of the door panel on the passenger side.
Testimony suggested that the vehicle in question was the car that the accused Ricardo Miller was driving in July, 2002.
According to a US DNA expert, the victim’s blood was found in the car.
By NATARIO MCKENZIE, The Tribune
