South Carolina Supreme Court Overturns Alex Murdaugh’s Murder Convictions, Orders New Trial

The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh and ordered a new trial in the 2021 killings of his wife and son. The court ruled that the original trial was affected by the “improper” actions of former county clerk Becky Hill.

In its opinion, the court said it had no choice but to reverse the decision denying Murdaugh a new trial because of Hill’s outside influence on jurors. The ruling throws out the two life sentences Murdaugh previously received for the murder convictions.

Despite the decision, Murdaugh will remain in prison after separately pleading guilty to financial crimes. He is currently serving concurrent state and federal sentences totaling 27 and 40 years.

Attorney General Alan Wilson said prosecutors intend to retry Murdaugh on both murder charges. “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.