Monrovia, Liberia— The Supreme Court of Liberia has acquitted former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott and three other family members after Criminal Court “A” convicted them of murder.
Musu-Scott and her three relatives were immediately released and cleared of all charges following the Supreme Court’s judgment.
Delivering the Supreme Court opinion on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, Chief Justice Sie-Nyene Yuoh said the only contentious issue in the Charloe Musu murder case was the issue of whether or not the State proved the issue of murder.
Justice Yuoh said the State prosecutors and the thirteen witnesses produced during the trial did not directly link or connect any of the defendants to the crime of murder.
She further noted that the circumstantial evidence that the State relied on was not capable enough to convince the court.
According to the Supreme Court opinion, the State pathology, Benedict Korlee autopsy analysis, was conflicting and raised more questions than answers.
The Court said they can’t ignore the claim of the State that there might have been possibilities of one of the defendants committing the act murder.
However, the Court highlighted the possibility of a professional criminal invading the home of ex-chief Justice Scott to commit the act of murder.
Chief Justice Yuoh highlighted that the State should have provided the individual role played by each of the defendant in connection to the murder.
She also emphasized that there is no evidence in the Court’s records of the instrument used to carry out the murder; stating that the prosecutors failure to connect the defendants to the crimes worked in favor of the defendants: Article 21 (h) of the 1986 constitution of Liberia and Chapter 2.1 of the criminal procedure law of Liberia.
Moreover, the State prosecutors miserably failed to produce the criminal agency, which is key in a criminal trial works in the favor of the defendants.
“The state did not meet the burden of proof to warrant the conviction of the defendants.
Therefore, the defendants are hereby acquitted of the crimes of murder, criminal conspiracy, et al. as charged in the indictment.”
The verdict:
“Having carefully examined the facts contained in the records, listened to the arguments on both sides, and considered the evidence and the laws relevant thereto, it is hereby adjudged:
That it is the law that the standard of proof to warrant a conviction in a criminal case is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt”, and that throughout the trial, the State bears the burden of establishing all elements of the crimes charged by the said standard of proof, and in the instance where reasonable doubt is inferred from the evidence by the prosecution, the defendant in a criminal case is entitled to an acquittal; That a verdict presented by the jury may be set aside, where the verdict is contrary to the weight of the evidence; and That the State having totally relied on circumstantial evidence, but failed to meet the standard as required by law to connect link by link the chain needed to lead any reasonable mind to the conclusion of guilt, that the appellants did murder Charloe Musu, the guilty verdict returned by the jury was against the weight of the evidence and is set aside.”
Continuing the ruling states: “WHEREFORE, AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, the final ruling of the trial court confirming the verdict of the jury is hereby reversed. The appellants, Gloria Musu Scott, Ma Rebecca Youdeh Wisner, Getrude Newton and Alice Johnson are ordered immediately released from further detention at the Monrovia Central Prison and their civil rights, liberties and all other constitutional and statutory rights are hereby immediately restored. AND IT IS HEREBY SO ORDERED.”
