PHOTO: Convict Jonathan Williams
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
TEMPLE OF JUSTICE, Monrovia- The majority Bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia has upheld the March 26,2020 ruling by Circuit Court Judge Nancy Sammy, in which she sentenced convict Jonathan Williams to life imprisonment, after he was adjudged guilty for killing Journalist Tyron Brown.
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court Judge’s verdict on Monday, September 5,2022.
Last March, the Supreme Court of Liberia has reserved ruling into the appeal for acquittal argued the case involving the convicted murderer of the man who a circuit court brought down guilty of murdering Liberian Journalist Tyron Brown, Jonathan who was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Convict Williams was convicted for killing Journalist Brown in the Duport Road Community in Monrovia’s Paynesville suburb in March of 2020, but his lawyers took exception and filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Liberia.
Late Journalist Brown
The late Journalist Tyron Brown, who was an employee of Super Fm/Tv in Monrovia’s Congo Town suburb, was stabbed to death several times in the Duport Road, Paynesville suburb of Monrovia in 2018. And the trial first started at the Temple of Justice in the Liberian capital. The case was however transferred to Bomi County based on change of venue motion filed by lawyers representing Jonathan Williams, Cllr. Jallah Barbu and Cllr. Jimmy Bombo, which is a right of any party
The Supreme heard arguments from both sides on March 30,2022 and reserved ruling.
During the argument, defense Lawyer, Cllr. Jallah Barbu said his client Jonathan Williams was temporarily insane and also in self-defense when he committed the act which the Supreme Court also disagreed with.
Reading the opinion on behalf of the Supreme Court, Justice Yusuf Kaba said that Judge Sammy did extremely well in her ruling and they found no error against her to reverse her decision.
The defendant’s lawyer Cllr. Jallah Barbu claimed that Judge Sammy was in error in ruling by misinterpreting the Penal law of Liberia Chapter 14.1(b) something the Supreme Court disagreed with.
The Supreme Court said having heard arguments, reviewed the facts and circumstances revealed by the records and examined the laws controlling, it is hereby that proof of insanity lies within the purview of an expert witness in the instant case, the appellant (defendant) own assertion that he was insane was insufficient to establish proof of his insanity.
More details of the ruling:
That for a person to be entitled to self-defense, he must have used force on another person when he believes that such force is necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by such person; but where as in the instant case, the evidence is glaring that the victim was unarmed and was stabbed in the back multiple times resulting to his demise, the claim of self- defense cannot be sustained.
That the prosecution’s evidence in this proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant maliciously stabbed the victim, drove and dumped his unconscious body on the road side, the victim was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival, the act of the appellant (defendant) thereby manifesting the intentional killing of another person within the meaning of penal law revised 26:14.1; hence, the appellant is guilty of murder.
Wherefore and in view of the foregoing, the final ruling of the trial court adjudging the appellant (defendant) guilty of the crime of murder and sentencing him to life imprisonment is affirmed.
Meanwhile, the clerk of the Supreme Court has been ordered to send a mandate to lower court to resume jurisdiction over this case and give effect to this judgement.