MONROVIA, LIBERIA-Former Foreign Minister Dee Maxwell Kemayah and others have rejected the trial jurors’ verdict in the Saudi Rice Case with a motion for a new trial.

Recently, trial jurors at Criminal Court ‘C’ convicted defendants Kemayah, former Internal Affairs Minister Varney Sirleaf, and others for stealing several bags of rice donated by the Saudi Government for disaster victims in Liberia.

But, according to ELBC Judicial Reporter, the legal team of defendants Kemayah and others rejected the verdict and filed a motion for a new litigation consistent with Chapter 20, Section 20.1 and 2 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia.

In their request to the Court, the convicted former public officials’ legal team argued that the jurors’ divided verdicts contradicted the weight of the evidence presented in Court by the prosecuting lawyers.

The new motion filed by the legal team of the defendants was filed after the trial jurors acquitted the National Disaster Management Agency Executive Director, Hemry Williams, and two others.

Meanwhile, Criminal Court ‘C’ Judge Ousman Feika is expected to assign the defense lawyers’ request for new litigation in a couple of days for determination.