Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke Begs Judge for Leniency

Reputed Jamaican drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke has pleaded with a United States judge for leniency in his sentence.

In a letter to Justice Robert P Patterson Jr of Federal District Court in Manhattan, Coke, described by prosecutors as ‘one of Jamaica’s most brutal drug lords,’ said he accepted responsibility for his actions.

Although he did not apologise in the letter for his actions, Coke, in his seven-page, neatly hand-written letter released to the media on Tuesday, asked Justice Patterson to use his discretion to sentence him ‘below the guideline range’.

Coke, 42, was arrested in Jamaica last year and extradited to Manhattan, where he has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. He could receive a 23-year sentence.

“Good day to you, sir,” he said in the letter to “Justice Patterson,” “I am humbly asking if you could be lenient on me.”

Coke listed 13 reasons why the judge should be lenient, stating, among others, that he recently lost his mother, who had bemoaned his incarceration.

“I was told that while she was on her deathbed, she was crying and kept calling my name,” he wrote.

He also said his eight year old son has been traumatised by his arrest.

“I was told that he is constantly asking for his daddy. He cries all the time. He literally says this, and the originals are going up on the Web since I am gone.”

Coke told Justice Paterson that, after serving his sentence, he would be deported back to Jamaica and would not get the “possibility of ever visiting” his brother or other relatives who reside in New York.

In addition, Coke said his “charitable deeds and social services” helped many in his West Kingston community, including the elderly, the unemployed, parents and a “back-to-school