By: Jacqueline L. Dennis
Magistrate Ben Barco along with two Associates Magistrate Andrew N. Bropleh and Lassana Kamara at the Monrovia City Court on Friday June 23,2023 denied former Chief Justice Gloria Scott, Gertrude Newton, Rebecca Y. Wisner and Alice Johnson motion to Admit to Bail at the Temple of Justice on Capitol Hill.
He said the court is inclined to rule denying the application of the defense counsels and the said application is denied. Magistrate Barco said the court have no subject matter jurisdiction over the crime of murder.
At the same time, he ordered the Clerk of Court to have the matter immediately transferred to the First Judicial Circuit, Criminal Assizes “A” of Montserrado County for the appropriate actions to be taken.
Former Chief Justice Scott is now defendant along with her relatives Newton, Wisner, and Johnson were all charged on June 22, 2023, by the Government of Liberia thru the Ministry of Justice on multiple criminal offenses Murder, Criminal Conspiracy, and False Report to law enforcement officials.
On Friday, June 23, 2023, Magistrate Barco ruling came after the defendant’s legal team filed a motion: Admit To Bail on Thursday June 22, 2023, and that motion was argued by both the prosecution and the defense.
He said “Article 21 paragraph d (i) of the constitution of the republic of Liberia states that the accused persons shall be bailable upon their personal recognizance or by sufficient sureties, depending upon the gravity of the charge, unless charged for capital offenses or grave offenses as defined by law,” and murder is one of those grave offenses. Section 14.l of the New Penal Law of Liberia grades Murder as a felony of the first degree, which makes it grave finally”.
According to him, all courts are required to take cognizance of their jurisdictions especially subject matter jurisdiction as same is imposed by law and nothing else, to include the consent of parties.
He also said defendants have been charged with criminal offenses criminal conspiracy, false reports to Law enforcement officials, and murder which is a first degree felony and classified as a capital offense.
Magistrate Barco noted, the New Judiciary Law amended of Chapter 7, Section 7.3 the jurisdiction of Magistrates Courts in criminal proceedings only extends to 1, 2 and 3 degrees misdemeanors and not to felonious offenses.
“This Court has no trial jurisdiction over the crime of murder with which the defendants are charged. The only action this court can take in a matter brought before it over which another court has original trial jurisdiction is to conduct a preliminary hearing, particularly if requested by the defendants upon their appearance in court” he added.
He further maintained that the defendants waive their rights to said hearing by failing to request same, the next available option to the court is to have the matter venue before the appropriate forum having trial jurisdiction over the offense or offenses charged.
Judge Barco recalled “this case came to court on the June 22, 2023 by means of a police charge sheet in which the Republic of Liberia by and thru the Ministry of Justice complains to the effect that on the February 22, 2023 the defendants of Lower Virginia, Montserrado County, colluded, connived and conspired and stabbed victim Charloe Musu multiple times with a sharp instrument, believed to be a knife, resulting to her untimely death.”
Accordingly, the state further alleges that defendants reported to the police that the death of the deceased was caused by the stabbing done by an unknown man who intruded into their home, whereas, police investigation has established that said account is false and misleading.
However, he said the state charged defendants with murder, criminal conspiracy and false reports to law enforcement officials, in violation of Sections 14.1, 10.4 & 12.33 of the New Penal Law of Liberia.
He mentioned, defendants were accordingly arraigned and when the case was called, defendants, thru their legal counsels filed a motion to admit defendants to bail and stated four (4) counts as grounds.
“The defense application to admit defendants to bail, heavily relied on Chapter 13, Sub-section 13. 1 of the Criminal Procedure Law, captioned Right to Bail ,paragraph one of this law provides that “A person in custody for the commission of a capital offense shall, before conviction, be entitled as of right to be admitted to bail unless the proof is evident or the presumption great that he is guilty of the offense. The second part of that same section also provides that “On the hearing of an application for admission to bail made before indictment by a person in custody for the commission of a capital offense, the burden of showing that the proof is evident or the presumption great that he is guilty of the offense is on the Republic [emphasis mine]”.
He said there must be a forum where the state will present the facts to be assessed by the court. ” In this instance case the opportunity that defense counsels missed was they should have asked the court for a preliminary examination to afford the court the opportunity to hear the evidence of the state.”
