One year since the beginning of Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial: what comes next?
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Tuesday marks a year since one of South Carolina’s most notable trials got underway from the Lowcountry’s front porch. Once prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh was tried for the murders of his wife and youngest son.
Margaret and Paul Murdaugh were gunned down nearly three years ago at the family’s sprawling hunting property on the border of Colleton and Hampton Counties. The small community was left shocked in the wake of the murders – murders that would prove the be the beginning of Alex Murdaugh’s unraveling.
The six-week trial was filled with emotional testimony as state prosecutors worked to peel back the layers of Alex Murdaugh and convince a jury that he crumbled under the pressure from an approaching storm – one that was set to topple his finances and expose 15 years of stealing from legal clients, his family’s law firm, and friends.
News 2’s Riley Benson was the first to report that Alex Murdaugh would take the stand to testify as part of his defense. For two days, the world watched as Murdaugh was grilled on his financial wrongdoings, recounted the night of the murders, and sobbed while speaking of his son, Paul.
The decision to take the stand was unprecedented and something jurors would later say factored into their guilty verdict.
But through it all, Murdaugh maintained his innocence. Repeatedly stating that he did not kill his wife and son. Still, he was found guilty by jurors after relatively quick deliberations and handed a double life sentence by South Carolina Judge Clifton Newman in early March.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson celebrated the victory while Murdaugh’s lawyers vowed to appeal the decision. The story did not end there.
Murdaugh’s defense attorneys later lobbed accusations of jury tampering against Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill and formally called for a retrial, saying Hill influenced the guilty verdict – something they say was to boost sales of her book.
The claim led to criminal investigations into Hill.
Meanwhile, Judge Newman recused himself from the case and former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal was tapped to oversee future hearings related to the murder retrial.
Just last week, Murdaugh was granted a status conference hearing to set the parameters for a three-day hearing that is set to take place next week. It’s during that hearing Judge Toal will decide whether Murdaugh will get a new murder trial.
Judge Toal is set to question all 12 jurors who rendered the verdict, and Hill, to determine if there was any jury tampering and if it could have impacted the outcome.
