Alex Murdaugh could face new murder trial as South Carolina Supreme Court drops bombshell decision
Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh may soon be getting a new murder trial after the South Carolina Supreme Court overruled a previous ruling that a court official tampered with the jury.
Murdaugh’s attorneys argued that former Colleton County Clerk Rebecca Hill tampered with the jury during the original six-week trial in March 2023, when Murdaugh was found guilty of gunning down his wife and son on their multimillion-dollar estate.
Murdaugh, who was mired in financial woes and allegations of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm, was on trial for fatally shooting his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their 22-year-old son Paul at their home on June 7, 2021. The 56-year-old former attorney had pleaded not guilty, and hired high-profile lawyers to beat the charges.
According to those attorneys, Hill told jurors “not to be fooled” by Murdaugh’s own emotional testimony. The defense team alleges that Hill wanted him to be convicted so she could make money from her self-published book “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.”
After her admonition, Murdaugh was subsequently handed two consecutive life sentences for the shootings.
Even if Murdaugh receives a new trial, he is far from a free man. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his many financial crimes.
In addition to stealing money from his law firm and its clients, Murdaugh had been implicated in a bizarre murder for hire plot that resulted in additional charges. After Paul and Maggie’s murders, he hired a hit man to shoot him so that his remaining son, Buster, could receive a large insurance settlement.
But the hitman, Curtis Eddie Smith, missed his target, and Murdaugh was charged with conspiracy and insurance fraud among a slew of other charges.
As for Hill, her book was eventually pulled from publication after she admitted to plagiarizing a section, according to WCSC.
She later resigned from her position in March 2024 when the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation after Hill was accused of using her elected position for personal gain, the outlet reported.
In January, former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal informed the jurors of Hill’s alleged jury tampering but stated there was insufficient evidence for a new trial.
Toal said that after combing through the entire transcript of the six-week trial, she couldn’t overturn the verdict “on the strength of some fleeting and foolish comments by a publicity-seeking clerk of court” because they didn’t persuade the jurors’ minds.
Murdaugh’s lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin pushed for a motion from the Supreme Court claiming the case had significant public interest and a legal principle of major importance.
“The issue of significant public interest is whether the verdict returned after Mr. Murdaugh’s internationally televised murder trial should be overturned due to unprecedented jury tampering by a state official, the former Colleton County Clerk of Court,” attorneys said in a July filing according to WCSC.
“The legal principle of major importance is whether it is presumptively prejudicial for a state official to secretly advocate for a guilty verdict through ex parte contacts with jurors during trial, or whether a defendant, having proven the contacts occurred, must also somehow prove the verdict would have been different at a hypothetical trial in which the surreptitious advocacy did not occur.”
The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against a new murder trial before making a decision.
