The Monrovia City Court on Friday June 23, 2023, denied a motion to Admit to Bail former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott and three others who are charged with murder for the lack of jurisdiction over murder.
“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”. Magistrate Ben Barco of the Monrovia City Court at the Temple of Justice told the court on Friday, adding that the defendants waive their rights to said hearing by failing to request same.
Former Chief Justice Scott, Gertrude Newton, Rebecca Y. Wisner and Alice Johnson, were jointly charged by the state on June 22, 2023 with the crimes of 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, in the death of Charloe Musu. Their lawyers on Friday, filed the motion for their release on bail from the Monrovia Central Prison.
During the hearing, Magistrate Ben Barco noted that the Monrovia City Court had no jurisdiction over the crime of murder, and as such the motion was denied, with an order to the Clerk of Court to have the motion immediately transferred to the First Judicial Circuit, Criminal Assizes “A” of Montserrado County for the appropriate actions to be taken.
He further noted that 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.
“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”. Magistrate Barco asserted.
He added that the New Judiciary Law amended of Chapter 7, Section 7.3 the jurisdiction of Magistrates Courts in criminal proceedings only extends to 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees misdemeanors and not to felonious offenses.
” The defense application to admit defendants to bail, heavily relied on Chapter 13, Sub-section 13. l 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
He asserted that 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.
