Alex Murdaugh asks South Carolina high court for new trial in double murder case

CHARLESTON, S.C. (CN) — Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh asked South Carolina’s Supreme Court for a new trial Wednesday, accusing a court official of urging the jury to find him guilty of murdering his wife and son.

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Becky Hill pleaded guilty in December 2025 to obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs from Murdaugh’s trial that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about it — as well as two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting through her public office a book she wrote on the trial.

Murdaugh’s attorneys say Hill’s misdeeds went further — she made prejudicial comments to the members of the jury during the trial that at least one juror said influenced her guilty verdict.

An alternate juror testified at Murdaugh’s appeal hearing two years ago that Hill warned the jury that the defense team would “distract” or “mislead” them during their presentation. Two other jurors reported Hill said to watch Murdaugh closely as he testified at trial.

Former Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal agreed that Hill failed in her duties, but declined to grant Murdaugh a new trial, finding that the clerk’s comments did not influence the verdict.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian told the justices Wednesday that the judge’s findings were “wholly unsupported” by the evidence.

The clerk of court told “everyone who would listen” that she wanted a guilty verdict, Harpootlian said, and then discredited Murdaugh’s testimony in comments to the jurors.

“If only the people who may be innocent get a fair trial, then our Constitution isn’t working,” Harpootlian said.

Creighton Waters, the chief prosecutor at Murdaugh’s trial, countered that the clerk’s “fleeting” comments could not sway jurors who sat through six weeks of trial featuring almost 90 witnesses and 600 exhibits.

Chief Justice John W. Kittredge grilled Waters about testimony from a juror who said that Hill told them, “Don’t let the defense confuse you.”

“Assume we find that statement was made,” Kittredge said. “Do you still have a path to victory?”

Waters agreed the statement was inappropriate, but it had to be balanced against the weight of the evidence and the judge’s instructions for juror impartiality.

Murdaugh’s attorneys also attacked the trial’s fairness at the hearing.

They said the chief investigator lied to the grand jury that indicted Murdaugh by telling them the ammunition used in one of the killings was found in other guns at the Murdaugh home and that blood spatter was found on Murdaugh’s clothes.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin said Judge Clifton Newman also permitted evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes to be presented at the trial in support of a flimsy motive: the disgraced attorney killed his wife and son to garner sympathy and distract from his other misdeeds.

Griffin said the financial crimes unfairly prejudiced the jury against Murdaugh.

Kittredge asked Waters if Newman excluded any evidence about Murdaugh’s financial crimes at trial. When the prosecutor answered in the negative, Kittredge said that concerned him.

“The granular detail, and the expansiveness of everything under the sun that was allowed, was arguably problematic,” Kittredge said.

Waters said the prosecution team streamlined evidence about the financial crimes, but Kittredge countered that prosecutors included “extraneous information that tugged at the heartstrings.”

Justice John Cannon Few questioned if evidence of the financial crimes actually supported a motive. He said in many cases the purpose of introducing evidence about a defendant’s other crimes was clear. Here, it was “debatable,” Few said.

Murdaugh, 57, is serving a life sentence for his murder convictions, but he won’t walk free if he is granted a new trial. Murdaugh is also serving a nearly 30-year prison sentence for stealing millions from clients, his law firm and others.

Follow @SteveGarrisonPC