A surprise controversy surrounding a juror erupted on Tuesday, in the ongoing arson trial involving former Speaker Cllr Fonati Koffa and six other defendants including three sitting lawmakers.
When, Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie of Criminal Court 'A', decided to remove a seated juror Delbert Miatonia, an employee of the Ministry of State from the panel, after prosecutors suggested the man demonstrated that he cannot be fair and or impartial, which allegations led to the temporarily suspension of the trial, and an investigation was ordered by the court.
Interestingly, at yesterday's proceedings, Juror Miatonia admitted that he had lied under oath, during the selection process, when he had answered a question about his jury service within the last twelve months in any court of Montserrado County.
While answering the prosecutor's question, Miatonia said," within the last twelve months I had never served as a juror in any courts for Montserrado County."
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Lying while serving as a juror and being under oath during the selection process is considered a serious offense.
Because it borders on the integrity of the jury system that relies on potential jurors providing truthful and complete information to ensure impartiality.
In more instances, juror who has lied under oath is sentenced to prison to serve as a deterrence, which did not happen in the case of Miatonia.
What was more interesting, is when Miatonia was dismissed from the panel, he went directly to sit where people who had gone to listen or witness the trial were seated. Even, Miatonia was visibly seeing with laughter as he left his seat from the panel.
This dramatic seems annoyed Judge Willie to the extent that he had to demand Miatonia to leave the entire courtroom.
Defense lawyers, however, took issue with the possibility that Juror Miatonia might be thrown off the panel.
Punishment for Miatonia would have been honest thing for the judge, to serve as a deterrence, according to some legal practitioners who have interest in the case.
It all started when Judge Willie based on a complaint filed by the prosecution, raising concerns that he may not have been honest in answering a jury selection question by saying that he had never served as juror on cases in any court of Montserrado County.
Juror Miatonia was summoned to court to answer questions after prosecutors said they found documents to establish that he served as a juror in this Criminal Court 'A' during the May 2025 Term of Court, which accusations he denied, although, the jury law says that a person can serve as a juror one time in twelve months.
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The setbacks in the selection process emerged during the questioning of the prospective juror in which prosecutors also asked for Miatonia with identification number 1309796 to be disqualified over accusations of Impartial and dishonesty.
The prosecutor had also disclosed that Miatonia was granted permission to serve as a juror in May 2025, when he was summoned to replace an employee of the Ministry of State, identified as Mohammed Turay.
According to the prosecutors, the payroll within the Judiciary says that he served as juror for 15 days and was paid through Mobile money the amount of US$90.00 for his service.
Meanwhile, the jury selection process went ahead with the selection of 14 of the 15 jurors yesterday. The case continues to Wednesday, where the remaining one juror is expected to be selected.
