Former Liberian Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor's lawyers are considering an appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court denied her bail. Her legal team, led by Atty. Gbawu Kowou, plans to file a petition for certiorari before the Justice in Chambers, arguing that the court did not properly apply Liberia's law on bail and pretrial detention. The defense believes she is eligible for bail.
Howard-Taylor has been under house arrest for three weeks, with police officers standing watch around her home and a visitors' log tracking everyone who enters. The former vice president, once second in line to lead the country, now needs a judge's permission to see her doctor. Her lawyers had argued that the 2023 Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which makes the charges against her grave and non-bailable, cannot be applied retroactively to conduct that allegedly occurred in 2021 and 2022.
Judge Ousman F. Feika of Criminal Court "C" rejected the defense's argument, citing a Writ of Arrest that alleges Howard-Taylor received $15,000 from a cartel as recently as August 2026. The judge accused the defense of ignoring a major part of its own exhibit and warned that such conduct runs against the lawyers' code of ethics. It is rare for a judge to scold counsel this way in a pretrial ruling.
The defense team, which includes Cllr. Kabina Ja'neh and former Associate Justice Lavalah Supuwood, plans to challenge Judge Feika's ruling before the Supreme Court. Recent history offers the defense both hope and caution, with the Supreme Court overturning a lower court decision in March 2025 to grant bail to Peach Bility, son of Representative Musa Hassan Bility.
A filing could also buy time, as a 2024 case showed that the State's certiorari petition automatically halted scheduled Criminal Court "C" proceedings until a conference with the Justice in Chambers. The defense is likely to press the gap between the alleged conduct and the new law, which may have to be decided by the Justices.
Other fights remain unresolved, including defense motions to quash the arrest writ, a habeas corpus petition, and a motion to suppress evidence. The defense has already withdrawn the preliminary examination before Magistrate L. Ben Barco, giving up an early chance to test the State's evidence. The evidence includes WhatsApp messages and audio recordings investigators say came from Sheikh Bashiru Kante's phone.
Howard-Taylor's case sits at the heart of Liberia's widest drug investigation, which began with a cocaine seizure valued at about $317 million and has reached into the police, the intelligence services, and the prison system. Her party, the Coalition for Democratic Change, calls it political persecution, while the government says she is presumed innocent and will have her day in court.
Key points
- Howard-Taylor's lawyers plan to appeal bail denial to Supreme Court
- Defense argues new law cannot be applied retroactively
- Case sits at heart of Liberia's widest drug investigation
