Monrovia – The prosecution’s try and tightly hyperlink the defendants to the December 2024 Capitol Constructing arson got here below renewed scrutiny on Wednesday after its first witness admitted that investigators by no means performed forensic fingerprint testing on the very gadgets allegedly used to begin the hearth.
Testifying earlier than Prison Court docket “A,” Liberia Nationwide Police (LNP) investigator Rafael Wilson conceded below cross-examination that neither the Clorox bottle nor the matchbox recovered from the scene underwent scientific fingerprint evaluation, elevating contemporary doubts concerning the investigative rigour behind one of many nation’s most politically charged trials.
No Scientific Testing on “Key Bodily Proof”
Pressed by protection attorneys, Wilson instructed the courtroom that LNP forensic technicians stated the plastic Clorox bottle couldn’t retain viable prints.
“The Clorox bottle and matchbox have uncooked surfaces. We couldn’t conduct fingerprint testing. The forensic technician instructed us it was unimaginable to extract prints from that kind of fabric,” Wilson testified.
The admission triggered aggressive questioning from the defence, who argued that investigators had failed to fulfill the fundamental requirements required to tie any suspect to the proof.
Protection attorneys insisted that any merchandise allegedly dealt with by a perpetrator ought to be bagged, preserved, and examined, but none of that was accomplished.
Choose Blocks Protection Inquiry
When the protection tried to query how the State might lawfully join the accused to the alleged arson with out fingerprints, Presiding Choose Roosevelt Z. Willie shut down the road of questioning.
Choose Willie dominated that the witness had already referenced “different documentary and oral proof” forming the premise for the indictment.
Earlier, prosecutors tried to introduce the LNP cost sheet and investigation report.
Protection attorneys objected, asserting that the paperwork had been by no means offered throughout discovery and had been subsequently “unusual” and procedurally improper.
Regardless of the objection, Choose Willie allowed the paperwork into proof however ordered that printed copies be provided to the protection for evaluation.
Conflict Over Audio Recordings, Chain of Custody Challenged
Tensions escalated when the prosecution pushed to confess a number of audio recordings.
The protection responded, arguing the State failed to ascertain a sequence of custody, providing no details about how, when, the place, or by whom the recordings had been made.
Once more, the choose overruled the objection, counting on authorized precedent that allows admission of proof whose credibility will finally be judged by the jury.
“The truth that proof is admitted doesn’t imply it’s true,” Choose Willie stated. “It’s the jury that determines its credibility.”
Protection Accuses Choose of Bias
The ruling triggered a uncommon confrontation.
Protection lawyer Cllr. Arthur Johnson accused the choose of crossing a line.
I “Your Honor, your ruling sounds as if you might be arguing for the prosecution,” Johnson stated, insisting the choose was decoding proof on behalf of the State in entrance of the jury, habits he argued is prohibited by courtroom guidelines.
The protection later moved to strike the witness’s testimony associated to the audio recordings, arguing, that the jury had already listened to the clip, that the witness was not certified as an audio knowledgeable, and reliance on the recording amounted to rumour.
Court docket Dismisses Rumour Declare
Wilson, nevertheless, acknowledged that the recordings had been generated throughout an LNP-led investigation with assist from the Nationwide Safety Company (NSA).
Trial Continues Amid Mounting Questions
The repeated courtroom clashes, mixed with the revelation that no fingerprint testing was performed on gadgets allegedly tied to the arson, have intensified scrutiny over the energy and credibility of the prosecution’s case.
The trial resumes later this week.
