Could Alex Murdaugh Get a New Trial After S.C. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Jury Tampering Appeal?

Mar. 15, 2025

Alex Murdaugh.Photo:Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP

Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP

According to CNN, Murdaugh’s attorneys filed a motion in July asking the high court to review the appeal, claiming it “concerns an issue of significant public interest and a legal principle of major importance warranting certification.”

The decision comes after a judge earlier this yeardenied Murdaugh a new murder trialafter Murdaugh alleged jury tampering at the hands of Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill.

In March 2023,Murdaugh was found guiltyof the 2021 murders of his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, 22.  Both victims were found shot to death near the dog kennels on the 1,770-acre property in Islandton, S.C., where the family’s hunting lodge was located. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before delivering the guilty verdicts.

Maggie Murdaugh (left) and Paul Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook

Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook

He was subsequently sentenced totwo consecutive life sentences in prisonfor the murders.

They also claimed she made efforts to remove a juror she wasn’t confident would turn in a guilty verdict. Murdaugh’s attorneys further alleged that Hill “pressured the jurors to reach a quick verdict, telling them from the outset of their deliberations that it ‘shouldn’t take them long,’” the motion stated.

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“Ms. Hill did these things to secure for herself a book deal and media appearances that would not happen in the event of a mistrial,” the attorneys claimed. “Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame.”

Alex Murdaugh.Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP

Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP

Hill released a book about the Murdaugh murder trial —Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders— in July 2023.

Alex Murdaugh with his legal team.Joshua Boucher/Pool/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty

Joshua Boucher/Pool/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty

Hill has since resigned as clerk of court and is under state investigation for her alleged interactions with the jury in the Murdaugh trial, as well as allegations that she used her position for personal gain, WLTX reported.

After the double murder conviction, Murdaugh returned to court to face several other legal matters.

Murdaugh wassentenced in Aprilto 40 years in federal prison for multiple fraud schemes to steal from his clients. He pleaded guilty in September 2023 to money laundering, wire fraud and bank fraud, perNBC News.

Murdaugh was previouslysentenced to 27 yearsin prison in November 2023 afterpleading guilty to 22 financial crimes, including wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and more, the South Carolina Attorney General’s office previously confirmed to PEOPLE.

His federal sentence is running concurrently with his state prison time, theAssociated Pressreported.

source: people.com