Richard “Alex” Murdaugh, a former South Carolina attorney, will face a new murder trial after the state’s highest court overturned his convictions in the 2021 killings of his wife and son. The court ruled that improper jury interference by a court official denied Murdaugh a fair trial.
On Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously reversed Murdaugh’s 2023 murder convictions and two life sentences in the fatal shootings of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at the family’s Colleton County estate. Prosecutors said they plan to retry the case.
"Although we are aware of the time, money, and effort expended for this lengthy trial, we have no choice but to reverse the denial of Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial due to Hill’s improper external influences on the jury and remand for a new trial," the justices wrote in the unsigned opinion.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office would move quickly to prosecute the case again.
"No one is above the law," Wilson said in a statement.
The court found that Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill improperly influenced jurors during the highly publicized trial. Justices said Hill’s conduct "egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility" by making comments suggesting jurors should distrust his testimony.
The justices also criticized the trial judge’s decision to allow extensive evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes, concluding it may have unfairly prejudiced jurors.
Murdaugh, 57, was convicted in March 2023 of fatally shooting his wife and younger son near the family’s dog kennels in June 2021. Prosecutors said he killed them to distract from mounting financial crimes.
His attorneys appealed, alleging jury tampering and arguing that evidence about financial thefts overwhelmed the murder case. They also noted the lack of direct physical evidence linking Murdaugh to the killings, including no blood, DNA, or murder weapons.
The Supreme Court placed responsibility for the retrial squarely on Hill, writing that she "placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury."
Hill later pleaded guilty in a separate case involving false statements about her conduct during the Murdaugh trial. Her book about the case, “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders,” was withdrawn from publication following plagiarism allegations.
Despite the ruling, Murdaugh will remain in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from clients and is serving a 27-year state sentence for financial crimes, and a federal sentence of roughly 40 years.
The Murdaugh case drew national attention because of the family’s longstanding legal influence in South Carolina’s Lowcountry and the violent deaths of his wife and son.