KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — The West Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Lincoln County man found guilty of murdering his wife.

Edward Earl Jeffers, 37, of Hamlin had appealed a murder conviction in the 2017 death of his wife, but the high court on Thursday upheld the conviction in a memorandum decision.

Jeffers was found guilty in 2022 of fatally cutting the throat of his wife during an argument. Stephanie Jeffers was found outside an apartment complex with multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

According to court documents, Edward Jeffers had appealed his conviction and was seeking a new trial due to prosecutors allegedly failing to produce several hearing transcripts related to a previous appeal.

In 2022, Jeffers filed a notice of appeal claiming that the circuit court erred in denying his motion for a change of venue. He also requested 18 various transcripts ranging from his arraignment to his sentencing.

The circuit court provided the remaining outstanding transcripts by June 2024, but Jeffers argued that the documents did not contain full information from the hearings, which would prevent him from effectively appealing his conviction.

In its decision Thursday, the supreme court ruled that Jeffers’ argument that missing transcripts “might reveal the existence of an error does not warrant a new trial.”

Chief Justice William Wooton issued a dissenting opinion stating that he believed there was enough in Jeffers’ appeal to warrant oral arguments and a formal opinion rather than a memorandum decision.