Africa-Press – Liberia. A tense moment unfolded yesterday in Criminal Court “A” when Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie discovered that the Monrovia City Court had never ruled on the Ministry of Justice’s claim that the US$440,000 property valuation bond—used to free former Speaker Fonati Koffa and three other lawmakers from Monrovia Central Prison—was insufficient.
Immediately after overruling the defense’s assertion that he lacked jurisdiction to entertain the prosecution’s challenge, Judge Willie ordered Stipendiary Magistrate Ben Barco to hold a hearing on the bond dispute from Friday, June 20, 2025, through Tuesday, June 24, 2025, and to submit the findings to Criminal Court “A.” “This Court cannot and will not hear a matter that is not properly a venue before it and, as a result of that and because it was not the fault of the prosecution, the matter will be returned to the Magistrate Court for the hearing of only the exception of the Bail Bond that was filed before it and the resistance thereto,” Willie declared.
The judge emphasized that his ruling did not bar prosecutors from returning to Criminal Court “A” should they remain dissatisfied after the City Court’s review; he simply could not hear “the exceptions before this Court as it is not a venue before it.”
Defense lawyers argued that on Friday, June 13, 2025, when Magistrate Barco rendered his final ruling from the preliminary examination, prosecutors “failed and neglected” to alert him that they had already filed exceptions to the bond. By allowing the Magistrate to finish his ruling, they contended, the prosecution had effectively waived its right to have the lower court decide the bond issue.
They further insisted that the prosecution never requested a hearing on its own objection. “The Magistrate, not having been moved to hear the exceptions, forwarded the case file to the Circuit Court, which included the exceptions which were not passed upon by the Magistrate,” they said. Because the file had already been transferred, defense lawyers maintained that the Magistrate “lost jurisdiction over the exception,” adding, “This Court in the absence of an indictment and its own Writ of Arrest lacks the jurisdiction to pass upon these exceptions filed by the Prosecution.”
The case dates back to May 16, 2025, when a writ of arrest was issued for Representatives Dixon Seeboe (District #16, Montserrado), Abu Kamara (District #15, Montserrado), Prescilla A. Cooper (District #5, Montserrado), Jacob Debee (District #3, Grand Gedeh), and former Speaker Fonati Koffa. On June 9, defense counsel filed a US$440,000 property valuation bond for four of the five defendants, and Magistrate Barco approved it.
The prosecution objected on June 12, lodging an exception with Magistrate Barco, followed by a June 13 motion to justify the surety and resist the bond.
After finding probable cause at the preliminary examination, Magistrate Barco forwarded the entire case file—bond, exceptions, and accompanying pleadings—to Criminal Court “A” on June 16. With yesterday’s ruling, however, the question of whether the defendants’ bond meets statutory requirements now returns to the Monrovia City Court for first-instance review, as Judge Willie directed.
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