COLUMBIA, S.C. (Court TV) — Convicted killer and disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh will return to court as South Carolina’s highest court has agreed to hear his appeal.
Alex Murdaugh, convicted of killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, in June 2021, sits during a hearing on a motion for a retrial, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, S.C. (Tracy Glantz/The State via AP, Pool)
Murdaugh is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son after he was convicted of shooting them on the family’s Low Country property. While Murdaugh has confessed to financial crimes, including stealing from former clients and his law firm, as well as a drug addiction, he has vehemently denied the murders.
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In January, retired Chief Justice Jean Toal denied Murdaugh’s appeal for a new trial based on allegations of jury tampering at the hands of the clerk of court. Becky Hill, who has since resigned from the position, served as Colleton County Clerk of Court and is accused of making inappropriate comments to the jury during the defense’s case suggesting that Murdaugh was guilty.
On Tuesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court granted Murdaugh’s motion for appeal. Murdaugh’s attorneys argued in their brief submitted to the Court that Justice Toal both erred in denying the appeal and abused her discretion in the Court’s order.
Much of Murdaugh’s argument focuses on Juror Z, who is alleged to have heard Hill’s comments during the trial. During the January hearing, Juror Z testified that she was influenced by Hill, but Justice Toal declined to accept that as fact, noting that in a sworn affidavit Juror Z said that she had been influenced by other jurors. Juror Z attempted to submit a second affidavit after testifying in court to clarify her position, but it was not admitted.
While Toal appeared to rely on a legal standard that put the burden of proof on Murdaugh at the evidentiary hearing, his defense attorneys argue that the burden should have been on the State. “The trial court, however, rejected the correct legal standard and applied an erroneous standard of its own invention: that Mr. Murdaugh, in addition to proving Ms. Hill did tamper with the jury about the merits of his case during trial, must also prove what the verdict would have been but for that tampering.”
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Murdaugh’s attorneys have asked for his conviction to be vacated and a new trial ordered.
“The public rightly sees Mr. Murdaugh’s downfall as an exposé of privilege and corruption in South Carolina’s legal system and the citizens of South Carolina need more from this case than confirmation of their own social-media-fed ideas about the details of a crime they did not witness. They need to see that their legal system actually works. Satisfying public desire to see a hated man punished is not why we have a legal system.”
While the South Carolina Supreme Court granted the motion, it has not yet scheduled any hearings.
