Former Chief Justice Cllr. Gloria Scott, Three Others Found Guilty In Charloe Musu Murder Case

Jurors presiding over the murder case of the late Charloe Musu have found former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott and three other members of her family guilty.
The 12-member Jury of the Criminal Court “A” on Thursday, December 21, 2023 ruled that Cllr. Scott and three other members of her family are guilty in the murder of their late daughter.
Charloe Musu, a 29-year- graduating senior at Starz University College was allegedly stabbed in February of this year at the home of the former Chief Justice in the Brewerville.
Eleven of the 12-member Jury, which serves as the trial of facts, said the defendants were guilty, while one of them said the defendants were not guilty.
But following the ruling, defense lawyers said they have found irregularities into the legal proceedings and will make an appeal to the Supreme Court for new ruling into the case.
Large crowd converged on the Criminal Court ‘A’ to witness the final legal arguments which preceded the handing down of the verdict.
The trial jurors found Cllr. Scott and her co-defendants’ guilty of the crime of murder, criminal conspiracy and making false alarms to law enforcement officers.
A jammed packed courtroom which saw several high profile current and former Liberian Government officials like former Chief Justice Francis S. Korkpor, former Chief Justice Frances Johnson Allison, Mr. Mo Ali of the Unity Party, Senator Abraham Darius Dillon of Montserrado County, Senator Gbleh-bo Brown of Maryland County where Cllr. Scott hailed from, Judge Mardea Chenoweth of the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Margibi County, Liberian National Bar Association President Sylvester Rennie, former Maryland county Senator John Ballout, human rights organizations, magistrates from some magisterial courts, lawyers, journalists and members of the public.
During the final argument, defense lawyers drew their theme from a book written by Liberian writer, Dr. Wilton Sankawolo titled, “It could be You too” that someone might like to put you in trouble.
Each party was given 1:30 minutes to deliberate.
The trial jurors questioned Cllr. Scott and her co-defendants’ involvement with the attacked at her residence that caused the death of Charloe Musu, with Cllr. Scott testifying, they have no knowledge of the crime.
The former Chief Justice said that it was an intruder that attacked her home with the intend to kill her and unfortunately, it was her daughter that was murdered. Scott, for her part, downplayed the accusations that she murdered her daughter, but argued that it was an intruder, who may have conspired with someone who has accessed to her home, to enter into her residence, with the intention to kill her. Several other persons to include Cllr Jerome Verdier, the former chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) accused the Monrovia City Major Jefferson Koijee of masterminding the attacked and which led to the murder of Charloe Musu through his operative and chief of patrol Varlee Telleh.
Cllr. Scott’s defense team relied on the arguments that it was a male intruder who attacked the home and murder her daughter. In addition to substantive testimony about the alleged murder, the trial was also dominated by controversy over witnesses and pathologists, as Scott frequently attended the trial seated in the prison Dock and accused the state of falsely incriminating her to the murder.
There have been series of controversies into the case through pathologist reports, with the Government of Liberia Pathologist report saying that the stabbing of the late Charloe Musu was done by a female while a US Pathologist report prove the contrary.
US pathologist Matthau Okoye said the DNA samples obtained from the fingernails of Charloe Musu proved that it was that of a male and not a female as claimed by the prosecutors. In response, the government pathologist Benedict Kolee disqualified the Okoye’s scientific findings, and had repeatedly argued that it was female who committed the murder.
Dr. Kolee said, “though Science is exact but the difference in the results does not mean either Pathology report is wrong”.
In a heated argument, Cllr. Scott argued that prosecution didn’t proof their case beyond reasonable doubt because they didn’t carry the murder weapon in court to be shown to the jurors but rather, they did imagination.
Cllr. Scott added that prosecution witness and pathologist of Liberia Dr. Benedict Kolee instead of bringing scientific proof of his so-called DNA test report, he went ahead to be political as if he’s involved with the case.“ Prosecution witness Dr. Kolee contradicted himself both during the general and rebuttal in a DNA report in which he said his DNA test report showed females instead of mixed DNA test but he Kolee claimed that it was minor issue but the foreign pathologist Dr. Mathias I. Okoye DNA analysis findings showed that a male DNA profile was found in the fingernail of the deceased Charloe Musu” Cllr. Scott explained.
The defense lawyers further questioned the jury who will invest in a child at age three up to 29 years and send to her to private university (Starz University of Technology) upon graduation and killed her?
Defense prayed court and jury to hand down a verdict of not guilty and set the defendants free of the crime alleged.
While state prosecution argued that defendants should be held guilty of the crimes based on circumstantial evidence and more besides, they proof their case beyond reasonable doubt.
Prosecution Prayed court to take judicial notice of their legal memorandum in charging the jurors with the relevant laws cited.
They killed, they killed her, prosecution lawyer told the jurors.
However, defense lawyers have promised to take the matter to the Supreme Court for an appeal and seek new ruling into the case as provided by law.