Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh may be retried for the murders of his wife and son after the South Carolina Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal alleging jury tampering in the initial trial.
The order issued Tuesday allows the case to skip the appeals process and appear in front of the high court. The decision comes after a retrial was denied earlier this year.
Murdaugh, a former South Carolina lawyer, was found guilty on two counts of murder without the possibility of parole in March of 2023.
The 56-year-old was convicted of fatally shooting his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, at their home in 2021.
Both victims were shot multiple times in the head, wrists and chest with different guns. Murdaugh called officials and stated he had discovered the bodies, but he was later identified as a person of interest.
He was ordered to serve two consecutive life sentences for the murders. He also is serving 40 years for federal financial crimes, which he pleaded guilty to.
Murdaugh’s legal team claimed that former Colleton County Clerk Rebecca Hill tampered with the jury during the trial.
They allege that Hill influenced the jury to convict Murdaugh so she could profit off her book about the case called “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.” The book was pulled from publication after she admitted to plagiarizing a portion of it, WCSC reported.
Hill resigned in March after the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation into claims she used her position for personal gain. She has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal said there was insufficient evidence for a new trial in January.
She said the verdict could not be overturned “on the strength of some fleeting and foolish comments by a publicity-seeking clerk of court,” because it is unknown if Hill’s comments influenced the jury’s decision.
Murdaugh’s lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin continued to push for a new trial after the ruling. They argued there is an “irrebuttable presumption of prejudice when a state official secretly advocates a guilty verdict.”
“The issue of significant public interest is whether the verdict returned after Mr. Murdaugh’s internationally televised murder trial should be overturned due to unprecedented jury tampering by a state official, the former Colleton County Clerk of Court,” the attorneys said in a July legal filing.
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