Former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor will remain under court-supervised home detention after Criminal Court "C" yesterday rejected her bid for bail, ruling that allegations against her describe a continuing course of conduct that allegedly extended into August 2026.

Assigned Circuit Judge Ousman F. Feika's ruling delivers a major setback to Taylor's immediate effort to secure her release while pushing a broader constitutional dispute over Liberia's 2023 Controlled Drugs and Substances Act toward the Supreme Court.

Taylor, 63, was arrested on August 19 at Roberts International Airport while reportedly preparing to travel to Ghana. She faces a 10-count indictment arising from allegations of involvement in a drug-trafficking and money-laundering network.

The charges include importation of controlled drugs, unlicensed exportation and sale, illicit trafficking in transit, abuse of office, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation, money laundering and aiding the consummation of a crime.

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Her defense team--Cllrs. Kabineh M. Ja'neh, J. Lavali Supuwood and Finley Karngar--had asked the court to admit her to bail, arguing that the prosecution was improperly relying on the 2023 drug law to cover alleged conduct that began before the statute was enacted.

The defense anchored its argument on Article 21(a) of the 1986 Constitution, which prohibits the retroactive application of criminal laws.

According to the defense, the government's own writ of arrest points to events beginning in 2022, including an alleged introduction by businessman Sheik Bashiru Kante to Ukrainian national Taras Zadereiko and Croatian national Mihovil Vrovac, a meeting at Taylor's residence, a trip to Dubai and related financial transactions.

Because the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act of 2023 was not printed into handbill until July 19, 2023, the defense argued that Taylor could not lawfully be prosecuted under provisions of a statute that did not exist when the alleged initial conduct occurred.

The defense further argued that the earlier 2014 drug law did not classify the relevant trafficking offense as a grave, non-bailable offense.

But Judge Feika found that the allegations did not stop with the pre-2023 conduct.

The judge pointed to financial transactions alleged in the government's writ that continued well beyond the enactment of the 2023 law--including an alleged US45,000transactioninvolvingNikolaIvancicwhileTaylorwasinDubai, US75,000 allegedly transferred through Kante for the Jewel Star Fish Foundation, and another alleged US$15,000 payment in August 2026.

Those later allegations proved critical to the bail ruling.

Relying on Section 4.6 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which addresses continuing offenses, Judge Feika held that an offense involving an ongoing course of conduct may be considered committed when that course of conduct ends.

The judge therefore rejected the defense position that the case should be treated exclusively as a prosecution for conduct that allegedly occurred before the 2023 law took effect.

The ruling states, in substance, that allegations of money-laundering transactions continuing through August 2026 place alleged conduct within the period in which the 2023 statutory framework was already in force.

That finding allowed the court to reject the ex post facto argument at the bail stage without making a final determination on Taylor's guilt.

The defense also challenged the government's position that Taylor should automatically be denied bail because she faces grave offenses under the 2023 drug law.

The lawyers invoked Article 21(d)(i) of the Constitution, which establishes a general right to bail while providing exceptions for capital and grave offenses as defined by law.

They argued that the State's position was inconsistent with a February 18, 2025 Supreme Court ruling in Republic of Liberia v. James Kollie et al., which addressed the constitutional standard governing denial of bail.

The defense maintained that bail cannot simply be denied because a person has been arrested or accused, arguing that the constitutional threshold requires consideration of whether "proof is evident and presumption is great."

The government countered that the Legislature expressly empowered itself under Article 21(d) to define grave offenses and that Sections 14.83 and 14.84 of the 2023 Controlled Drugs and Substances Act classify certain first-degree trafficking offenses involving Table I substances as grave and non-bailable.

The clash therefore extends beyond Taylor's individual case.

At its core is a question over how Liberia's constitutional guarantee of bail interacts with legislation that classifies certain drug-trafficking offenses as grave and non-bailable.

Judge Feika's ruling does not amount to a final determination that the 2023 Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is constitutional in every respect.

Nor does it determine Taylor's guilt or establish that the alleged transactions actually occurred.

The prosecution will still have to prove its case, while Taylor retains the right to challenge the evidence, the alleged financial transactions and the claim that the conduct constituted a continuing criminal enterprise.

But the constitutional questions raised by the defense could ultimately require consideration by the Supreme Court.

Among the central issues is whether the 2023 law can apply where prosecutors allege that a criminal course of conduct began before its enactment but continued afterward.

Another is whether the Legislature's authority to define grave offenses as non-bailable has limits under Article 21 of the Constitution.

A further question concerns the evidentiary threshold required before a court can deny bail in a case involving serious criminal allegations.

The case therefore places Liberia's relatively new drug-control regime under significant judicial scrutiny while keeping Taylor's immediate fate in the hands of the trial court.

For now, Judge Feika's ruling keeps the former Vice President under court-supervised home detention at her Congo Town residence.

Taylor remains presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in accordance with law.

But yesterday's ruling has ensured that the legal battle surrounding her arrest will extend beyond the question of bail--into a much broader constitutional examination of how Liberia prosecutes alleged continuing offenses under its toughest drug law.