Several high-profile criminal cases are set to begin in the new year, with many people standing accused of murders in both recent and cold cases.
Below is a list by the Washington Examiner tracking the top criminal trials and sentencings for 2023 in order of trial appearance.Disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh is set to go to trial on Jan. 23 in the Colleton County Courthouse. The trial is expected to go until Feb. 10, and Judge Clifton Newman will be presiding.
If found guilty, Murdaugh faces up to 30 years in prison. The court accommodated requests from Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, members of Murdaugh's legal team, for a speedy trial.Michael Adam Bur, 42, will appear for a sentencing hearing on Jan. 24 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in the 1997 killing of Mary Prieur, 88.
In 2021, police used advanced DNA technology to review evidence from 1997 that linked Bur to several samples taken at the crime scene. Social media exchanges led authorities to Miller and Goodale as suspects, showing that their motive for her disappearance and murder allegedly centers on a dispute over a bad grade. Messages showed the two students knew about her disappearance.
Allen was arrested on Oct. 28 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty to the charges shortly after in an initial hearing. Diener had warned the public against peddling misinformation"with reckless abandon," particularly after people began taking the suspect's sketch and posting them side by side next to pictures of innocent people on social media. To alleviate pressure from the public, he had ordered the release of a redacted version of documents detailing reasons for charging Allen to provide limited information to the public.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Oct. 27. Evidence against him is"overwhelming," prosecutors have stated, given Telles's DNA was found under German's fingernails, and Telles's vehicle matches the description of one found in the area when German was killed. Clothes matching video footage of the suspect were also found in Telles's possession.
The couple represented Cristhian Bahena Rivera, who was convicted of the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student, in 2021.