The third link in the above post is about the denial of the 2nd appeal of Murdaugh's banker, Russell Lafitte.
From that link-
The denial of Laffitte’s appeal sets the stage for him to be sentenced on six bank fraud-related counts. No sentencing date has been set. He could get a maximum of 30 years.
Judge Richard Mark Gergel of Charleston wrote in a six-page decision that Laffitte is not entitled to a new trial for multiple reasons.
In court filings, Laffitte had requested that Murdaugh appear at a new trial and testify on his behalf to tell the jury that he was innocent of knowing about the unlawfulness of the schemes that Murdaugh had persuaded him to join in — schemes that used Laffitte’s position as CEO of Palmetto State Bank to carry out the misappropriation of millions of dollars.
Gergel wrote that Murdaugh, who was convicted in March of murdering his wife and son, “is manifestly not a credible witness.”
“Evidence offered during the Defendant’s (Laffitte’s) trial established without question that Murdaugh is a serial liar and fraudster who stole from his clients and law partners. He now stands
convicted of the double homicide of his wife and son. It is difficult to imagine a less credible witness under these circumstances,” Gergel wrote.
Laffitte’s attorneys, Mark Moore and Michael Parente, had appealed their client’s guilty verdicts, saying in a March 9 motion that they had “newly-discovered evidence” that consisted of Murdaugh saying publicly, for the first time, that he did not participate in a conspiracy with Laffitte because Laffitte did not participate in the financial crimes.
The motion referred to a statements Murdaugh made on Feb. 23 under oath at his double-murder trial of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. Murdaugh was convicted of shooting them to death in June 2021 at their family estate, Moselle, in rural Colleton County.
“Specifically, Mr. Murdaugh testified, ‘I don’t dispute any of this, that I took money that didn’t belong to me, that I misled people … that trusted me to do that and that what I did was terrible. I don’t dispute that,’ Laffitte’s motion said. “Mr. Murdaugh further testified, ’Russell Laffitte never conspired with me to do anything, whatever was done was done by me. If he did it, he did it without knowing it.’”
If Murdaugh’s statements were allowed to be introduced before jury at a new trial, it would likely acquit him, the motion said.
In a 15-page reply to Laffitte’s motion, government prosecutors Katie Stoughton, Emily Limehouse and Winston Holliday argued that Murdaugh was not a credible witness because in two days of testimony at his double-murder trial, he admitted to lying and cheating family, friends, law partners, employees, clients and law enforcement.
Continued at third link in above post..
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