Supreme Court Grants Petition In “Hitman” Murder Trial Appeal
Adam Samia’s lawyers argue he was denied his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him after prosecutors introduced a post-arrest confession from one of his co-defendants that described Samia as the trigger man in Catherine Lee’s murder.
Landwebs
The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from a man convicted of his role in a murder-for-hire scheme to kill a woman in the Philippines. Adam Samia allegedly killed Catherine Lee while working as a mercenary for Paul le Roux, Nate Raymond reports for Reuters. His lawyers argue he was denied his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him after prosecutors introduced a post-arrest confession from one of his co-defendants that described Samia as the trigger man in Lee’s murder.
Prosecutors say Samia was recruited as part of a “kill team” along with Carl Stillwell by former U.S. Army sergeant Joseph Hunter. Samia, Hunter and Stillwell were all convicted at trial in 2018 and are currently serving life sentences. The high court agreed to review the appeal on Tuesday, and Samia v. United States will be added to the merits docket for 2022-23.
The court added two other new cases to the docket in the same morning: Timothy J. Smith v. United States, which deals with a jurisdiction error remedy in a hacking case, and Slack Technologies v. Piriani, which deals with securities law and the burden of proof for a plaintiff to allege misstatements.
