Published: September 3, 2025
MONROVIA — Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie will rule Thursday, September 4, on whether evidence taken from the cell phones of Thomas Etheridge and several co-defendants in an arson case can be admitted at trial.
The decision follows a motion to suppress filed by defense lawyers, who argued during Tuesday’s hearing that the evidence was illegally obtained without a court-approved search warrant. Each side presented 30 minutes of arguments before the crowded courtroom, which was filled with family members of the defendants, law school students, lawyers and court staff.
The defense team, led by Cllrs. M. Wilkins Wright, Arthur T. Johnson, James Kumeh and Jonathan Massaquoi, said investigators unlawfully extracted call logs and other data from the defendants’ phones on December 20, 2024, weeks before a writ of search and seizure was issued on January 9, 2025. They said the seizures violated the defendants’ constitutional right to privacy.
They also challenged a memorandum from the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) that prosecutors submitted as an expert report. The defense argued that LPRC lacks legal authority to conduct forensic arson investigations, that defendants were not informed or represented during the testing, and that a chlorine bottle allegedly analyzed as gasoline lacked a chain of custody.
“Every stage of a criminal investigation that tends to establish guilt must be conducted with the knowledge and representation of the accused,” the defense argued, citing past Supreme Court rulings, including Hans Williams and Madia Williams v. Government of Liberia.
The lawyers further said the National Security Agency (NSA) exceeded its statutory mandate by conducting the investigation. Citing the National Security Reform and Intelligence Act of 2011 and the Executive Law of Liberia, they argued that the NSA has no authority to investigate arson or other criminal cases. They referenced the 2009 Supreme Court case Cece Natif Gbaplay v. Republic of Liberia, which held that NSA actions outside its legal scope are “ultra vires” and void.
For these reasons, the defense urged the court to suppress all evidence obtained by the NSA, the LPRC memorandum, and defendants’ call logs, citing constitutional and statutory violations of search and seizure protections.
Prosecutors, led by Cllr. Richard Scott, opposed the motion, arguing that the Monrovia City Court issued writs of search and seizure covering more than 70 individuals and their cell phones in December 2024 and January 2025. Scott maintained that the NSA acted lawfully at the request of the Ministry of Justice and that the LPRC report could be tested at trial through cross-examination.
He also dismissed defense claims of torture and sodomy against the defendants, saying such allegations must be backed by medical records. Scott noted that a similar motion had already been denied at the magisterial court before the case advanced to Criminal Court A.
Prosecutors asked the court to deny the suppression motion and allow the case to proceed.
In a separate order, Judge Willie directed state prosecutors to return the defendants to the Monrovia Central Prison to ensure access to their lawyers. The defendants had recently been transferred to Kakata Central Prison on grounds that Monrovia’s facility was overcrowded.
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