In a significant development in the Kindness Wilson case, Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie of Criminal Court ‘A’, Montserrado County, has overturned the Monrovia City Court’s decision to deny the admission of video evidence.
Judge Willie reversed Magistrate Ben Barco’s earlier ruling, allowing the video to be admitted, with a key modification: the video must first be authenticated through the testimony of the individual who recorded it, rather than by the victim, Jumel Cox, as previously attempted.
Accordingly, the judge ordered the state to produce the alleged recorder of the video within two days to testify to its authenticity and credibility.
Defense counsel, Atty. Jeremiah Samuel Dugbo I, partially accepted the ruling but expressed strong disagreement. He argued that even if the video-recording witness is brought to testify, the video should still be excluded due to its prejudicial and inflammatory nature.
Atty. Dugbo further stated his intention to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, asserting that Judge Willie committed a reversible error that must be addressed by the nation’s highest court.
