Russell Laffitte, alleged Murdaugh accomplice, gets new trial
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A court has overturned the conviction and sentence of a man accused of conspiring with Alex Murdaugh to commit fraud.
Russell Laffitte appealed his convictions for bank and wire fraud, citing the removal and replacement of two jurors who are implied to have disagreed with his guilty verdict. He claimed this was cause for the courts to vacate his sentence and grant him a new trial.
Only 8 monkeys remain free after more than a week outside S.C. compound
It's just taken some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and other treats to lure back the vast majority of monkeys that fled a South Carolina lab.
His case was argued in September.
On Thursday, the court ruled in Lafitte’s favor.
In 2022, he was convicted of helping Murdaugh steal around $2 million in legal settlements and sentenced to spend seven years in federal prison and pay over $3.5 million in restitution.
MORE FROM NEWS 12
Alex Murdaugh: Lowcountry attorney spiraled downhill quickly
- Alex Murdaugh receives sentence on federal financial crime
- Could Alex Murdaugh get a new murder trial? Lawyers weigh in
- Alex Murdaugh settles lawsuit in teen’s boating death
- What the Alex Murdaugh murder trial cost S.C. taxpayers
- From prominence to disgrace: The fall of Alex Murdaugh
The appellate court determined that, during his trial, the removal of two jurors was mishandled as the judge made the decision unilaterally and privately, accepting one juror’s request to be removed during a one-on-one interaction, failing to allow the defense to object, and removing another for needing medication.
Both jurors, at some point or another, indicated to the judge that they felt as though the other jurors disagreed with their vote and that they were being pressured to change it.
Ga. K9, suspect killed, officer injured in shoot-out after pursuit
Law enforcement officers have been in the area of John Rivers Road and Roosevelt Highway in Fairburn since late Wednesday night due to a large investigation.
Because they were dismissed, specifically with the juror who requested to be removed being removed in private and not before the court and, subsequently, the jury with its alternates came back in less than an hour with a unanimous guilty verdict, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Laffitte’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, those being the right to be present and the right to an impartial jury, were violated.
A timeline for the new trial has not yet been determined.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
