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The ground of the Supreme Court in central Monrovia, Liberia, was a scene of joy and jubilation by supporters, well-wishers, and family members of the former Chief Justice, Counselor Gloria Musu-Scott, when the court acquitted her of murder.
The court overturned the guilty verdict handed by the high court Cllr. Musu-Scott and three other relatives (co-defendants) were accused of murdering Charloe Musu, a niece to the ex-Chief Justice.
“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, Gertrude 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,” the Supreme Court’s ruling stated.
Announcing the court’s decision, Chief Justice Yuoh stated that the state did not meet the burden of proof to warrant the conviction of the defendants, thus setting the defendants free of all crimes, including murder and criminal conspiracy, as charged in the indictment.
This ruling has received massive media coverage, as seen here and here.
Shortly after her release, Cllr. Musu-Scott said, “To the civil society organisations and the lawyers, we still have work to do. Yes, I may be freed and talking to you all today, but the work is in there; there are a lot of innocent persons still in jail.” She said this between 2:50 and 3:33 minutes/seconds in an interview with journalists.
Who is Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott?
Cllr. Musu-Scott is a seasoned Liberian judge with an impressive record among her peers. She also served as chairperson of Liberia’s Constitution Review Committee. She later became a politician and senator of Maryland County through an election in 2012, according to the African Women in Law website.
Cllr. Scott supported the ruling Unity Party and was part of the party’s legal team that successfully challenged the electoral commission’s refusal to allow parties to access the voters’ roll during the 2023 presidential and legislative elections in Liberia.
The Conviction
In June 2023, Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott and three other family members were arrested, charged, and sent to court for murder, criminal conspiracy, and providing false information to law enforcement officers.
This followed the murder of the niece of Madam Scott, Charloe Musu, in their Brewerville residence., outside Monrovia on February 22, 2023.
The high-profile case garnered significant public attention after being ruled upon by a jury team in Criminal Court ‘A’.
The jury found Cllr. Scott and her co-defendants were guilty of murdering Charloe Musu, allegedly using a kitchen knife to stab her multiple times to death.
According to the indictment of February 22, 2023, “Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson, and Rebecca Youdeh Wisner, aged 80, 36, and 20, with criminal intent, armed themselves with a sharp instrument believed to be a knife and pepper spray. They willfully, intentionally, purposely, and maliciously inflicted several bodily injuries on Charloe Musu, including her chest, right hand, left thigh, and left armpit, leading to her death and thereby committing the crime of murder.”
On the day of the final ruling by the criminal court ‘A’, the courtroom was filled with people from all walks of life, including civil society groups, lawyers, family members, and well-wishers.
The hearing lasted more than three hours, during which both parties, the prosecution and the defence lawyers, were allotted one hour-thirty minutes to argue their side.
After their arguments, the 12-member jury team found Cllr, Musu-Scott, and her three co-defendants guilty of committing the crime.
Following the jury’s verdict, Judge Roosevelt Z Willie of criminal court ‘A’ sentenced Counselor Gloria Musu-Scott and three of her family members in early January of 2024. Her lawyers took exception to the ruling and filed an appeal.
Following the appeal, the Supreme Court set July 16, 2024, to hear the appeal after both parties submitted their legal arguments.
Who are Cllr Scott’s lead lawyers?
It is important to bring this up because there are claims and counterclaims that the decision to free Cllr Scott was purely political and not based on the law.
Cllr. Kabineh Ja’neh is a former Supreme Court Associate Justice impeached by the legislature in 2019, a year after the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government took over.
Former Representative Moses Acarous Gray, a ranking member of the CDC and lawmaker of Montserrado County, initiated the impeachment process.
During the 2023 presidential and legislature elections, impeached Associate Justice Ja’neh endorsed and rallied Liberians to support the presidential bid of President Joseph Boakai.
Cllr. Augustine Fayiah, another lead lawyer of Cllr. Scott is currently the solicitor general of Liberia under Mr Boakai’s administration (#7 of this list of new appointments) and refused to show up when the Supreme Court handed down the ruling that exonerated Cllr. Musu-Scott and her co-defendants, but the court has since fined him for his actions.
On the other hand, the two lead lawyers of the prosecution team, Counselors Bobby Livingston and Lafayette B. Gould, were appointed by President Boakai. Still, their appointments were withdrawn on allegation of the role played in the trial of Cllr. Musu-Scott. According to a news report by the Independent Probe, Scott and her family.
Counselor Living was appointed as Deputy Minister for Public Affairs at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism (MICAT) (#30 on this list), while Cllr Lafayette B. Gould was appointed as Assistant Minister for Litigation (#14 on this list) at the Ministry of Justice.
Can the Government still prosecute this case?
Now that the Supreme Court has acquitted Cllr. Musu-Scott, it is unclear whether the government can still go after Charloe Musu’s murderer. DUBAWA thought it was necessary to engage some legal minds.
Victor Howard is an attorney at law. He told DUBAWA that if the government can gather new evidence pointing to new suspects, it can again prosecute them.
Attorney Howard said that Cllr. Scott and her three family members’ rights will now be restored, and they can file a lawsuit against the state if necessary.
He said, “They will be released and their rights restored. They can sue the state if there’s evidence that the state was malicious in its prosecution.”
According to another lawyer, Attorney Kla Edward Toomey II, the government still has a choice of going after the killer (s) of Charloe Musu. Attorney Toomey said, “The judge cannot be prosecuted for interpreting the law according to how he understands it, except there’s proof of misconduct or malpractice.
When asked whether or not Cllr. Scott and her family can sue the government; this was what he had to say, “Well, to do so, they will have to prove that their prosecution was malicious, which is difficult to do since death occurred in their home and they were in the premises when the murder occurred.
What do Liberians make of the Supreme Court Ruling?
Ernest Moibah Jr, a Liberian journalist, says if the original suspects have been freed for lack of evidence, then steps must be taken to find who the real killers of Charloe Musu are.
Another journalist, Moibah, also questioned the police’s capacity to handle high-profile cases thoroughly, lamenting that unless one runs to the Supreme Court for refuge, nothing substantive could be done on investigations.
Julius Mwalimu thinks that the Supreme Court’s acquittal of Cllr. Scott suggests that the government intends to implicate former officials of the Weah administration in the Charloe Musu death saga.
Mwalimu took to his official Facebook page, saying, “Gloria Musu-Scott was released today. This lady and three others were charged and prosecuted for murdering the late Charloe Musu. Her release intends to implicate former officials of the Weah administration in the Charloe Musu Scott death saga. Take my words to the bank and save this post. They [are] coming to find somebody who killed Charloe Musu in the coming days.”
Conclusion
With the ex-Chief Justice of Liberia and three other defendants now free, it remains to be seen who will be held accountable for the death of Charloe Musu.
