Published: May 18, 2026
MONROVIA — The jury at Criminal Court ‘A’ deadlocked evenly on Monday in the murder trial of a commercial driver accused of killing a Liberia National Police officer, forcing the court to declare a mistrial and leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case.
The 12-member panel split 6-6 after hours of deliberation, unable to agree on whether Francis Nana intentionally killed Officer Mark D. Bracewell or whether the officer’s death resulted from a traffic accident. The hung jury sets up a potential retrial and deals a major procedural blow to the prosecution, which had sought a life sentence.
The verdict landed before an audience of roughly 200 uniformed officers from the Liberia National Police, Liberia Immigration Service and Liberia National Fire Service, many of whom packed the courtroom in solidarity with Bracewell.
Defense attorney Jeremiah Samuel Dugbo, in closing arguments, urged jurors not to convict where reasonable doubt existed, invoking both Biblical and Quranic scripture — Matthew 27:4 and Surah 17:33 — as a caution against condemning an innocent man.
“The prosecution has failed to prove intent,” Dugbo told jurors. “This was a tragic traffic incident, not murder.”
The defense argued the state failed to establish malice aforethought, the legal threshold required under Liberian law for a murder conviction, contending that Nana and Bracewell had no prior relationship, conflict or confrontation before the fatal encounter.
“There is absolutely no evidence that Francis Nana intended to kill Officer Bracewell,” Dugbo said.
The defense also pointed to the Liberia National Police First Quarter Road Traffic Accident Report, published April 3, which documented 478 traffic accidents between January and March, resulting in 71 deaths and more than 300 injuries. Defense lawyers noted that none of those fatalities had been prosecuted as murder, arguing that prosecutors elevated this case to murder only because the victim was a police officer.
Prosecutors pushed back sharply. They argued that the manner in which Bracewell was dragged by Nana’s vehicle demonstrated a deliberate disregard for human life that far exceeded ordinary recklessness or negligence.
“The conduct of the defendant showed malice,” prosecutors said. “This was not ordinary recklessness.”
The state urged jurors to return a guilty verdict carrying life imprisonment, insisting the defendant had ample opportunity to stop the vehicle but continued driving while the officer was in danger.
The case drew national attention from the start. According to court records, Bracewell was attempting to stop Nana’s vehicle during a traffic encounter in Monrovia when he was dragged and sustained the injuries that killed him. His death as an officer on duty prompted immediate calls for accountability from within the LNP and reignited public debate over road safety and police interactions with motorists.
The central dispute throughout the trial — whether the incident was murder or a fatal accident — ultimately proved too close for the jury to resolve, producing the even split that ended the proceedings without conviction or acquittal.
Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Nana before a newly selected jury.
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