South Carolina high court overturns Alex Murdaugh murder convictions

CHARLESTON, S.C. (CN) — The South Carolina Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Alex Murdaugh, the prominent ex-attorney convicted nearly three years ago of murdering his wife and son at the family's rural estate.

In a per curiam decision filed Wednesday, the state's high court determined that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca "Becky" Hill improperly influenced the jury while administering the six-week trial.

"Both the state and Murdaugh's defense skillfully presented their cases to the jury as the trial court deftly presided over this complicated and high-profile matter," the court wrote. "However, their efforts were in vain because Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury."

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a candidate for governor in the Republican primary race, said in a statement his office would retry Murdaugh.

"While we respectfully disagree with the court's decision, my office will aggressively seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders of Maggie and Paul as soon as possible," Wilson said.

Wilson noted that Murdaugh will remain in prison as he serves state and federal sentences for separate financial crimes.

Murdaugh was convicted after a six-week televised trial in 2023 of murdering his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul the night of June 7, 2021, at the family's hunting estate in Colleton County.

He was serving a life sentence for the murders.

After his conviction, Murdaugh's attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, accused Hill of influencing jurors in a bombshell motion seeking a new trial. Affidavits from four jurors filed with the motion claimed that Hill warned them against being "fooled" or "misled" by the defense's arguments.

The attorneys argued Hill wanted a guilty verdict to support a book she would later co-write about the case.

Judge Jean Toal rejected the defense's motion after a hearing in 2024. Toal said after reviewing the full transcript of the trial, she couldn't overturn the verdict based "on the strength of some fleeting and foolish comments by a publicity-seeking clerk of court" because they didn't actively change the jurors' minds.

The Supreme Court disagreed, writing in the 27-page opinion that the court clerk's "meddling" and "self-aggrandizing conduct" had violated Murdaugh's right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.

"Hill clearly advised the jurors to find Murdaugh and the evidence he presented not credible and, essentially, urged them to render a guilty verdict," the court writes. "Hill's position as the Colleton County clerk of court, an officer of the court who managed the trial and was the primary caretaker of the jury, amplified the impact Hill's comments had on the jury."

The high court's decision rendered moot another key argument by the defense — that the trial judge should not have admitted so much evidence about Murdaugh's financial crimes. But the justices warned prosecutors to avoid similar excess at his retrial.

Murdaugh admitted in testimony that he stole millions of dollars from his former clients and law firm to support an opioid addiction. He later pleaded guilty to the financial crimes in state and federal court and was sentenced to concurrent terms of 27 years and 40 years in prison, respectively.

Judge Clifton Newman allowed the state to introduce extensive evidence about Murdaugh's financial misdeeds during the trial, including testimony from some of Murdaugh's hoodwinked clients, after ruling that it established a motive for the slayings.

The Supreme Court agreed that some of the evidence was permissible to establish motive, but wrote the prosecution's decision to "go as far and deep into detail" as it did was unfairly prejudicial.

Harpootlian said in a statement Wednesday that the retrial "must look very different from the first," noting that the initial jury heard more than 12 hours of testimony about Alex's financial crimes.

"Alex has said from day one that he did not kill his wife and son," Harpootlian said. "We look forward to a new trial conducted consistent with the Constitution and the guidance this court has provided."

Hill pleaded guilty in December to four charges — obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about — as well as two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting through her public office her book about the trial.

A judge sentenced her to three years of probation.

Prosecutors said they investigated jury tampering charges against Hill but did not feel they could secure a conviction.