Judge appealed.Alex Murdaugh's lawyers..

Lawyers for disgraced South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh are petitioning the state’s highest court to bar the judge who oversaw his murder trial from presiding over any more of his cases — claiming remarks he made after Murdaugh’s sentencing prove he is not impartial.

In a motion filed Wednesday, Murdaugh’s attorneys asked the South Carolina State Supreme Court to block Judge Clifton Newman from hearing Murdaugh’s request for a new trial and from an upcoming trial over Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes.

They do not accuse Newman of acting improperly during the murder trial, but instead cite remarks he made during the sentencing and in interviews with the Today Show and Cleveland State University following the jury’s guilty verdict.

In remarks to the jury after it reached its verdict that Murdaugh was liable for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul, Newman made a quip about “all the evidence pointing to only one conclusion, and that’s the conclusion you have reached.”

In his speech at Cleveland State, Newman also said Murdaugh “committed an unforgivable, unimaginable crime and there is no way he’ll be able to sleep peacefully,” according to the Daily Mail.

He repeated that claim on the Today Show, saying: “I cannot imagine him having a peaceful night knowing what he did.”

Taken together, the defense attorneys argue, Newman’s remarks indicate he thought Murdaugh was guilty — which may prevent him from impartially deciding whether the murder trial was fair.

“If the factfinder is a judge who has denounced Mr. Murdaugh on national television, the decision on the motion for a new trial will be unreviewable and forever suspect,” the attorneys argue in the motion, obtained by the Post and Courier. 

“The bell cannot be unrung on appeal.”

The attorneys also argue the judge is a material witness to Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill’s actions during the trial, as they accuse her of influencing the jury by asking them their opinion on his guilt before the trial even concluded — which the attorneys say could have suggested to the jury members that she thought Murdaugh was guilty.

The lawyers argue in court documents that Hill “instructed them not to believe evidence presented in Mr. Murdaugh’s defense, including his own testimony,” “lied to the judge to remove a juror she believed might not vote guilty,” and “pressured jurors to reach a guilty verdict quickly so she could profit from it.”

Murdaugh was then sentenced to two consecutive life in prison sentences in March.

Prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion to remove the judge, but previously wrote a letter to Newman arguing he should not step down because bringing another judge up to speed on the trial’s many details would be too expensive.

Newman is now set to preside over a trial beginning on Nov. 27 on Murdaugh’s alleged scheme to steal millions from his late housekeeper’s family, unless the State Supreme Court grants the defenses’ request or suspends any trials or hearings until the case is settled.