CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A jury convicted a North Charleston man on Friday in the 2021 murder of his estranged husband.

Willie Leo Darby was sentenced to 45 years on charges of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the Nov. 12, 2021, shooting death of 29-year-old Michael Warren.

The trial screeched to a halt early in the week when the judge ruled the prosecution couldn’t use certain phone evidence because the state had gone back and conducted a second search of Darby’s phone contents as recently as last month, against a court agreement to use the original results.

In court, the state argued the new search was needed since it used updated technology, and it was done by an expert witness who could appear at the trial in person.

But the trial conti

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