Monrovia — Assigned Circuit Judge of Criminal Court "C," Judge Ousman F. Feika, has denied former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor's motion to be admitted to bail amid her ongoing house arrest and travel restrictions.

The motion followed Taylor's arrest and subsequent detention by national security authorities over allegations of involvement in drug-related activities in violation of Liberia's controlled-drugs laws.

According to the police charge sheet, Taylor faces several alleged offenses, including importation of controlled drugs, unlicensed exportation of controlled drugs and substances, unlicensed sale, trading in transit and transportation of controlled substances, abuse of office, illicit trafficking, criminal conspiracy, criminal solicitation, money laundering and aiding the consummation of a crime.

The charges remain allegations, and Taylor has not been convicted of the offenses.

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In her motion, Taylor argued that the allegations contained in the writ of arrest relate to events allegedly occurring in 2021 and 2022. Her lawyers contended that applying the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act of 2023 to conduct that allegedly occurred before the law took effect would violate Article 21(a) of the Liberian Constitution, which prohibits ex post facto laws.

Article 21(a) states: "No person shall be made subject to any law or punishment which was not in effect at the time of commission of an offense, nor shall the Legislature enact any bill of attainder or ex post facto law."

State prosecutors opposed the motion, arguing that Taylor's alleged criminal conduct did not end in 2022 but continued through August 2026, bringing portions of the alleged conduct within the period covered by existing laws governing controlled substances and related offenses.

Delivering his ruling Thursday, September 24, Judge Feika held that the fact that some of the alleged conduct began in 2021 or 2022 does not, by itself, bar the prosecution if the writ alleges--and prosecutors can establish--that the conduct continued through August 2026.

Judge Feika relied on Chapter 4, Section 4.6 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which addresses when an offense is deemed to have been committed for purposes of statutory limitations, including offenses involving an alleged continuing course of conduct.

Under the provision, where the Legislature intends to prohibit a continuing course of conduct, an offense is considered committed when the last act in that course occurs or when the defendant terminates his or her alleged complicity.

The judge further held that alleged money-laundering transactions extending through August 2026 would fall within the applicable statutory limitation period, even if prosecutors contend that the proceeds originated from alleged criminal conduct dating back to 2021 or 2022.

"The motion to admit to bail on statute-of-limitation grounds is therefore denied, without prejudice to the defendant's right at trial to challenge whether the prosecution has established the elements of each charged offense," Judge Feika stated.

The ruling leaves Taylor subject to the existing conditions of her court-ordered release, including house arrest and travel restrictions, while preserving her right to challenge the prosecution's allegations during subsequent proceedings.