Post date: Jun 08, 2012 8:3:0 PM
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.
Jamaican drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke sentenced to 23 years in prison.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 8, 2012) (REUTERS) - A federal judge sentenced Jamaican drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to 23 years in prison on Friday (June 8), ending a long struggle by U.S. authorities to lock up a powerful figure who had evaded capture with the aid of Jamaican authorities.
"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.
Outside the courtroom, a family member said he was upset that Coke's good work did not prompt a lighter sentence.
"It bothered me one because he's a family member and I know the type of person he is. I don't know his as the type of person they are painting in the picture. So, it bothers me to know that someone in that manner of all the good that he has done is being brought down in this way when the good that he was trying to do is pretty much.. the bad is outweighing it and I don't feel that's fair. It wasn't a fair case. So that's why it bothers me," said Antonio, Christopher Coke's cousin.
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.