A South Carolina man who was sent to prison for 48 years for the 2020 murder of his girlfriend had his conviction overturned by the state appeals court.

Police arrived at a motel room to find Brian Redding sitting on the bed, seeming to be upset. His girlfriend was also in the bed, with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

No gun was found in the room, but a shell casing had the victim’s fingerprints on it. The couple had been living at the motel for a month, and nobody at the motel had noticed any problems between them.

However, the victim’s sisters and friends testified that both Redding and the victim carried guns, adding that Redding controlled the victim in their relationship. The pathologist was unable to determine a time of death.  

Redding asked for a directed verdict. The judge denied the motion, ruling that the state had produced sufficient evidence to take the case to a jury.

Redding’s cousin and uncle testified that they saw him on the morning of the victim’s death and that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Redding explained that he had given rides to two people that morning before returning to the motel room to find his girlfriend’s body. He also said that he had sold his gun to his cousin a month before the shooting.

Again, Redding’s motion for a directed verdict was denied, and the jury convicted him. He was sentenced to 48 years for the murder and five years on a weapons charge.

However, the South Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the decision, ruling that the evidence had only “raised merely a suspicion of guilt.”

“We do not find substantial circumstantial evidence; thus, we hold the circuit court erred in submitting the case to the jury,” the appeals judges wrote.