New trial ordered for U.S. lawyer convicted of murdering wife and son
Murdaugh was convicted in March 2023 of fatally shooting his son, Paul, 22, with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, 52, with an assault rifle on the family’s vast hunting estate in June 2021.
A dramatic turn in one of America’s most closely watched murder cases has upended the conviction of a once-powerful lawyer who was serving life in prison for the killings of his wife and son.
Alex Murdaugh, 57, heir to a prominent family of judges and attorneys, did not receive a fair trial because a court clerk improperly influenced jurors, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled.
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Murdaugh was convicted in March 2023 of fatally shooting his son, Paul, 22, with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, 52, with an assault rifle on the family’s vast hunting estate in June 2021.
In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court threw out Murdaugh’s murder conviction and directed that he be tried again.
“Hill placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury,” the justices said.
“We have no choice but to reverse the denial of Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial due to Hill’s improper external influence on the jury.”
As part of its decision ordering a new trial, the court also said the judge who oversaw the murder case had permitted an excessive amount of evidence about Murdaugh’s financial crimes to reach the jury.
Murdaugh is also serving a separate 40-year prison sentence for financial crimes.
Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son after recognising that years of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients to support a concealed opioid addiction were on the verge of being exposed.
Murdaugh took the stand in his own defence during the trial.
He acknowledged stealing, embezzling and lying about his drug addiction, which his lawyers said cost $50,000 (€42,679) each week, but he denied murdering his wife and son.
Still, evidence recovered from his son’s cell phone suggested Murdaugh was the only person with his wife and son at the estate’s dog kennels just minutes before they were killed.
The televised proceedings drew a national audience, turning the case into a true-crime phenomenon and prompting Netflix and HBO to quickly release docu-dramas about it.
