By Jacqueline L. Dennis
After being placed behind bars for over two months, the alleged murder trial against former Chief Justice Gloria Musu-Scott and three of her relatives, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson and Rebecca Youdeh Wisner, is expected to begin at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia.
Former Chief Justice Scott and co-defendants Newton, Wisner, and Johnson were all charged on June 22, 2023, by the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Justice on multiple criminal offenses, including Murder, Criminal Conspiracy, and Giving False Report to Law Enforcement Officials.
On June 22, 2023, a Writ of Arrest from the Monrovia City Court was served on the defendants. They were brought before the court, and Cllr. Scott’s lawyers filed a motion to admit to bail. The motion was argued by the prosecution and defense. The ruling was reserved by Magistrate Ben Barco; the four defendants were jailed at the Monrovia Central prison.
On Friday, June 23, 2023, Magistrate Barco ruled and denied the motion and said the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the crime of murder. Judge Barco 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.
After the case was transferred, to the circuit court of Judge Roosevelt Willie, the defense lawyers filed the same motion to admit the defendants to bail, but that motion was denied by Judge Willie after a heated argument between state prosecutors and the defense, and the defendants were sent back to jail to await a court hearing.
It can be recalled that the Special Grand Jury for Montserrado County indicted Defendants Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson, and Rebecca Youdeh Wisner for the alleged commission of the crimes of Murder, Criminal Conspiracy, and Giving False reports to Law Enforcement Officials.
The indictment said the defendants with criminal minds and intent, armed with a sharp instrument believed to be a knife, and pepper spray, willfully, intentionally, purposely, and maliciously inflicted several bodily injuries on the person of Charloe Musu, including her chest, right hand, left thigh and left armpit.
