It’s been over a month since the hearing of an appeal by the Supreme Court of Liberia in a case filed by former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott along with three other family members who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the late Charloe Musu. The Supreme Court is now set to determine their fate.
The Justices of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, will hand down a verdict in the appeal which will see Cllr. Scott and her family members walk free or serve lifetime imprisonment.
The court’s notice of assignment in possession of this paper notified the both parties that it is in readiness to give ruling in the appeal motion. It reads: “You are hereby commanded to notify the Parties in the above Entitled Cause of Action or their Legal Representative(s) that the Honorable Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia will give ruling in said cause on the 28″ day of August A.D. 2024, at the hour of 12:00 noon., and that they are cited to be present for same. And have you there this notice of assignment.”
On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, during an argument before the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh and her associates bombarded the prosecuting attorneys based on their own brief filed before the court.
During arguments, the Justices questioned prosecutors whether the Liberian pathologist Dr. Benedict Kolee’s DNA analysis links any of the defendants to the crimes. Cllr. Bobby Livingstone in response to the question said, their case theory was based on circumstantial evidence since the defendants failed to point out who did the killing.
Based on the response, the Justices told Cllr. Livingstone that their prosecution of the case was based on presumption and assumption without establishing any evidence.
The justices were also concerned about each role played by the defendants during the commission of the crimes. Did all of them take the knife to stab Charloe Musu? Chief justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh questioned prosecution lawyer Livingstone.
Arguing for and on behalf of the Government of Liberia, Cllr. Livingstone debunked the five issues raised by Cllr. Scott’s lawyers, stating that there was no intruder discovered during the commission of the crimes as alleged by the defendants.
“By Circumstantial evidence, we will hold all them” Cllr. Livingstone argued. But Associate Justice Wolokolie questioned whether all of them used one knife to stab Charloe Musu or they used separate knives?
Countering the argument, Defense lead lawyer former Associate Justice Kabeneh J’aneh raised five keys issues, including: Did the state meet the evidentiary standard of proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” required by law to individually and collectively convict the defendants of the capital crime of murder? Alternatively, did the state establish a prima facie case against the defendants to warrant the entry of a judgment of conviction against them?
Cllr. J’aneh argued that state lawyers did not present a single eyewitness to the perpetration of the crime of murder as alleged in the indictment.
He said, the state proceeded to prove its case but failed to do so, beyond a reasonable doubt on the strength of conflicting forensic and circumstantial evidence adduced during the trial.
It can be recalled that the Trial Jury of Montserrado County handed down a majority guilty verdict against the former Chief Justice Cllr. Scott along with three other family members for the crimes of Murder, Criminal Conspiracy and Making False Statement to Law Enforcement Officials.
The convicts were sent to life imprisonment by Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie of the Criminal Court “A” based on the unanimous guilty verdict.
