Lawyers representing the woman accused of killing Pottsville businessman Pat Murphy more than 2 years ago in New Orleans were in court again Wednesday.
According to court documents, attorney John Fuller appeared virtually before an Orleans Parish judge and attorney Greg Carter appeared in court for a pre-trial conference in their defense of Megan (aka Magen) Hall. Hall is accused of murdering Murphy in a New Orleans hotel room during the early morning hours of Feb. 28, 2019.
On Wednesday, the judge presiding over the pre-trial conference reset the matter for April 14. And if all goes according to plan, a trial date will be set then.
Pat Murphy Murder Trial Date to be Set on April 14
Hall’s been in prison since early March 2019. After some expected delays in the court schedule leading up to a possible trial as early as the Fall of 2019, more delays pushed a trial into the coronavirus pandemic.
For the last year, courts, for the most part. haven’t been in session in Louisiana. That’s pushed back the potential start of Hall’s trial along with thousands of other court cases.
Now, as more states emerge from the pandemic, criminal proceedings are getting back underway. So, hopefully in two weeks, we’ll have a new tentative trial date set in this case.
Hall’s been in prison since turning herself in less than 48 hours after police and prosecutors say she stabbed Murphy to death in a second-floor room at The Empress Hotel in New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood.
If she’s convicted of the second-degree murder charge she faces, she’ll get the mandatory life sentence. She also faces a charge of armed robbery and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors contend that Hall, a known prostitute, led Murphy to The Empress Hotel and then stabbed him several times in the room she rented with her own identification. Surveillance footage from the night in question shows the two enter the hotel together. But a few hours later, Hall is seen leaving on her own, and rather briskly, prosecutors say.
Hall’s attorneys haven’t said a word outside of a few brief court appearances since their client turned herself in to police back in 2019. She’s entered a plea of not guilty.
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