By Grace Q. Bryant
The Criminal Court ‘A’ yesterday denied a motion to release defendant Gloria Musa Scott and three others members of the family on bail.
The defendants were all charged with many offenses including Murder, a first degree felony, in the death of Cllr. Scott’s niece, Charloe Musa.
In his ruling, Judge Roosevelt Willie on July 4, said, “The law says all persons, the law did not distinguish as to who should be bailed when they commit a grave or capital offense,”
Earlier, the defendants’ lawyers argued that Musu-Scott should be placed on personal recognizance (bail) because she is a former Chief Justice, former Senator and one who has held many key public positions in this country which is amounts to being a State’s woman.
However Judge Willie said the issue raised by the defense team that defendant Scott is a State’s woman who has served in many capacities in this country, is true but, the law says ‘all persons.”
According to Willie, Article 21(d) (i) of the 1986 Constitution, which he quoted states, “All accused persons shall be billable upon their personal recognizance or by sufficient sureties depending on the gravity of the crime unless crimes of capital offenses or grave offenses as defined by law.”
He furthered clarified that “The foundation is if you are charged with a capital offense or a grave offense, you are not entitled to bail,”
Addressing himself to an argument by the defendants’ team that the indictment did not substantively charged the defendants or charged the person who committed the Crime of Murder, the judge said the indictment named those who committed the crime of Murder as Gloria Musu Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson and Rebecca Youdeh Wisner.
According to him, the proceeding is not the place to prove who actually committed murder or how it was committed because that burden is on the prosecution to establish during the trial of the main case.
“While it is true that when the indictment has been presented to the defendants to prove that is on the defendants, all that the prosecution can do here is to debunk the statement and therefore the proper time will come for prosecution to prove beyond all reasonable doubt how these defendants committed the crime of Murder,” he explained.
The judge concluded that “the Motion to Admit to Bail is hereby denied and a prove beyond all reasonable doubt as required by our law will be shown when this case is assigned where the prosecution will be ordered to prove beyond all reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendants.
Arguing on behalf of state prosecutors, Cllr. Lafayette Gould quoted Article 11© of the Liberian Constitution which says, all persons are equal before the law. So positions should not matter.
Cllr. Gould informed the court that the positions of the former Chief Justice should not be the center of the trial because it is the life of a young Liberian girl they are discussing.
Another state prosecutor Cllr. Bobby Livingstone wondered should the law crumble or be twisted in her favor because she is a former Chief Justice?
Cllr. Livingstone argued, ‘The alleged murder case is not about who status is involved but rather a young Liberian girl who loss her life in cold blood and we as lawyers should not base our arguments on sentiments but the laws.”
In defending herself, defendant Scott argued that prosecution has already convicted them without being found guilty and that is why they are being treated as convicted criminals.
Cllr. Scott indicated that state prosecutors are convinced that they committed murder without looking for the killer(s) wondering, “What standard has court set for writ of arrest,” as she quoted Article 21(e) of the Constitution.
She added that writ of arrest is a powerful document because it takes away their constitutional rights, life, properties and others but their writ of arrest did not detail anything for which it should be taken serious by the court.
Defendant Scott revealed that the indictment alone cannot restraint her liberty and the court should not be used to violate the constitutional rights of others and prayed that the court to grants her bail as she remains available to the public and her lawyers whenever the court needs her.
