A murderer has glared at his victim's family in court and drawn the ire of a judge as prosecutors argued his appeal was futile because of "overwhelming" evidence. But Basham's barrister Dermot Dann KC on Friday argued the sentence was manifestly excessive because the judge wrongly determined the case was in the worst category of murder. The jurors were wrongly told it was up to them to determine whether Ms Fraser's statements about the rape were truthful, Mr Dann said. Even if the judge did make a mistake, Ms Clancy argued there still was not a miscarriage of justice. The appeal court will hand down its decision at a later date.