-Say State Failed to Indicate Who Particularly Committed Murder

By Jacqueline Lucia Dennis 

IPNEWS – Lawyers representing former Chief Justice, Gloria Musu Scott and three other co-defendants, Gertrude Newton, Rebecca Y. Wisner and Alice Johnson, have filed a motion to bail the defendants before Criminals Court “A” Judge, Roosevelt Willie, at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia.

In their motion, the defense claimed that the state has failed to precisely indicate, who particularly committed the murder.

The defense in a 7-count motion pray for the court to grant the defendant’s Motion to Bail and called on Judge Willie to grant unto the defendants any other relief that will be “fair, just, and legal”.

The Special Grand Jury for Montserrado County indicted the defendants for the alleged crimes of murder, criminal conspiracy and giving false reports to law enforcement officials.

The Ministry of Justice along with the Liberia National Police (LNP) and defense lawyers are expected to appear before Criminal Court “A” at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, at 11:00 am to argue the motion.

The defense lamented that based on the content and narrative of the Indictment, the defendants are entitled to bail under the Criminal Procedure Law, Chapter 1, Subsection 13.1, captioned “Right to

The bail provides that all crimes are billable, especially when the proof is not evident and the presumption is not great.

The defense motion stated that “In this instant case, the indictment on its very face and contents demonstrate that proof is not evident and presumption not great.”

The motion has also claimed that the indictment charged the defendants for the alleged commission of murder collectively and said the indictment further alleged that an instrument believed to be a knife was used, but did not succinctly indicate, who was the actual person among the four (4) that committed the murder.

Count two of the defense motion said the State has failed to precisely indicate particularly who committed the murder.

According to the defense, Defendants Scott and the other co-defendants will be in court whenever needed from the commencement to the logical conclusion of the matter.

It said the primary purposes of bail in a criminal case are to relieve the accused of imprisonment, relieve the state of the burden of keeping the accused pending trial and at the same time to keep the accused constructively in the custody of the court, whether before or after conviction, to ensure that he or she will submit to the jurisdiction of the court and be in attendance thereon whenever his/her/their attendance is required.

The defense also maintains that all of the defendants have been very cooperative in these proceedings, beginning with the Police investigation with over 10 appearances at the Liberia National Police Headquarters.

The motion argued that the defendants have been invited to the multiple times and have never failed to attend and so should be admitted to bail under these circumstances

Scott’s legal team emphasized that Co-defendant Rebecca Y. Wisner, who is aged and feeble, needs constant medical aid as well as assistance in terms of her movement, while Co-defendant Scott, who is hypertensive will need regular monitoring due to the sensitive nature of the ailment, indicating that they should be granted the request.