Retrial set for lawyer Alex Murdaugh after convictions overturned in deaths of wife, son

The hit convictions and life-time doom of Alex Murdaugh were upset wed by the South Carolina Supreme Court because the court clerk at his trial suggested he was guilty, but the disgraced lawyer won't be leaving prison any time soon.

Prosecutors say they plan to retry Murdaugh, which likely means there will be another lengthy trial in the case that has become a true crime sensation because of its combination of money, power, Southern accents and treachery. It has spawned several streaming miniseries, best-selling books and dozens of true-crime podcasts.

Murdaugh, 57, will remain in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million US from his clients and currently is serving a 40-year federal sentence.

Prosecutors said they would aggressively seek to try Murdaugh again on the murder charges, with state Attorney General Alan Wilson saying he respected the court's decision but no one is above the law.

Murdaugh's lawyers pointed out that trial will look a lot different, as the justices also ruled days of evidence at the murder trial about how Murdaugh stole from clients — many of them in dire straits — shouldn't be allowed next time.

Still, the ruling is a win for Murdaugh, who has admitted to being a thief, liar, insurance cheat and bad lawyer, but has adamantly denied killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, since he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.

"Alex has said from day one that he did not kill his wife and son. We look forward to a new trial," Murdaugh's lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said in a joint statement.

In their unanimous ruling Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court said the conduct by Colleton County clerk of court Becky Hill "egregiously attacked Murdaugh's credibility" by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted.

A few jurors said Hill, assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh's body language when he testified in his own defence and not to be fooled, confused or thrown off by what he might say.

"By urging the jurors not to be fooled or convinced by Murdaugh's defence, Hill essentially implored the jurors to find him guilty, the ultimate issue in the case," the justices wrote. They added that the comments insinuated there was something unusual and suspicious about his decision to testify.

Hill "placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury," the justices wrote. "Our justice system provides — indeed demands — that every person is entitled to a fair trial."

The court said Hill's motivation was the "siren call of celebrity" and her goal was to increase sales of her book on the trial called Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders. It was pulled from publication after plagiarism allegations were made.

"As her book's title suggests, it turns out Hill was quite busy behind the doors of justice, thwarting the integrity of the justice system she was sworn to protect and uphold," the justices wrote in an unsigned 27-page ruling.

Hill's attorney in her criminal case didn't return a phone call or email seeking comment.

Hill has pleaded guilty to lying about what she said and did during the Murdaugh trial, including showing graphic crime scene photos to several media members. The journalists were not named and the photos were not described at her December hearing.

"The court rightly described her conduct as 'breathtaking,' 'disgraceful,' and 'unprecedented in South Carolina,'" Murdaugh's lawyers said.

Prosecutors argued that the clerk's comments were fleeting and the evidence against Murdaugh was overwhelming.

The justices also had a warning for the next judge to try the murder case: be cautious about how much evidence of Murdaugh's thefts from his law firm and clients to allow those jurors to hear.

Some brief evidence of how Mudaugh stole is fine, as is evidence how it might connect to him killing his wife and son. But the court said details like how some of the people Murdaugh stole from were disabled or vulnerable could unfairly turn jurors against him when they should be focused only on whether he killed his family.

Investigators said Murdaugh was addicted to opioids and his complex schemes to steal money from clients and his family's law firm were starting to unravel when he shot his younger son, Paul, with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, with a rifle, at their home in Colleton County in 2021.

Murdaugh told investigators he hadn't seen them for an hour or so before he discovered their bodies, but his voice was recorded in a video on his son's phone made about five minutes before the killing.

The weapons used in the killings have not been found and prosecutors did not present any clothes with DNA or blood evidence.

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