New Trial Ordered After Judge Calls Lawyer ‘Pretty’
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — A judge’s remark that a defense lawyer was a “pretty girl” has prompted the South Carolina Supreme Court to give her client a new trial.
Circuit Judge Hubert Long told jurors in the 1991 trial to ignore the mistakes of lawyer Ann Briks Walsh, who had improperly asked a prosecution witness whether he had a criminal record. He prefaced his remark by saying, “I hate to fuss at a pretty girl.” He repeated the phrase later in the comment.
The Supreme Court said the remark improperly cast Walsh in a negative light before the jury.
Walsh was defending Beondi Pace on grand larceny charges.
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