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| - A Moroccan gardener convicted of murdering his boss in France in 1991, caught after he scrawled a message in blood at the scene, will on Thursday launch another legal bid to clear his name, his lawyer said. The gruesome killing of wealthy widow Ghislaine Marchal at her villa on the French Riviera is one of the best-known murder cases in France and has become the subject of several books and a film. Omar Raddad was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 1994 despite his protestations of innocence, with the key piece of evidence being a message with a glaring grammar mistake scrawled on a door in Marchal's blood. The message -- "Omar m'a tuer" (Omar killed me) -- fuelled intense speculation about its author. Many people questioning whether Marchal, who was highly educated, would have used the infinitive (tuer) instead of the past participle (tue) for "killed". The prosecutor claimed Haddad killed her after an argument about a cash advance on his wages to pay off his gambling debts. Raddad, who was freed in 1998 after having his sentence partially commuted by former president Jacques Chirac, has unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction in the past but is hoping new DNA evidence will convince judges to order a re-trial. Fingerprints from four unknown men have been identified at the crime scene which represent "new facts that are likely to raise doubts about the guilt" of Raddad, his lawyer Sylvie Noachovitch said. An expert using updated technology found some of this DNA mixed in with a second incomplete message in blood found at the crime scene, strengthening the case that the gardener was framed, his lawyer will claim. A previous appeal based on DNA evidence and handwriting analysis in 2002 was rejected by the review court. The case has captivated France because of the lurid details, but also because of claims that Haddad, an immigrant described as gentle and calm in court, was a victim of discrimination. His son, Karim, told Le Monde newspaper this week that his father, now aged 59, was depressed and living like a recluse in the south of France, but still had hope of being cleared. Two handwriting experts at the original trial said Marchal was definitely the author of the messages in blood as the capital letters exactly matched her writing on crossword puzzles -- one of her pastimes. "Omar m'a tuer" became one of the most famous lines in French crime history, inspiring a 2011 film of that title by French director Roschdy Zem and a host of rip-offs including a book about ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy entitled "Sarko m'a tuer". bl-adp/cb/jv
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