Court overturns Alex Murdaugh's murder convictions and orders new trial

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Breaking news out of South Carolina where the state Supreme Court overturned disgraced attorney Alec Murdoch's double murder convictions and ordered a new trial in the killings of his wife and his son. Let's get right to our senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett. So, Laura, walk us through this here because this isn't really about what we witnessed as so many of us watched this trial day-to-day for weeks on end. This all centers around the actions of the county clerk at the time, a woman named Becky Hill. Joe, this was always a long shot effort by Murdoch and his attorneys to try to get his conviction thrown out, but that Hail Mary pass worked, Joe. In a really just stunning victory for Murdoch, the court here says that his constitutional right to a fair trial was denied. His rights were violated, Joe, because the clerk, at least in the eyes of the court, wrongly tried to influence the jury. Her name was Becky Hill. She made a number of statements to the jury during the actual trial. When Murdoch was testifying, she told the jury, quote, "To me, to me, just watch his actions. Watch him closely." One of the jurors then reported that that felt like she made it seem like he was already guilty. Then, when jury deliberations began, Joe, she told the jury, quote, "This shouldn't take long." So, she made a number of statements. She even gave one of the jurors a ride home at one point. And the the the court today saying that all of those efforts on on her part, all of those wrongful actions, actually mean that Murdoch should get a new trial.

[00:01:31]Now, Joe, does this mean that he's going to walk out of out of prison today? No, because as you might remember, he was not only convicted of murdering his wife and his son, he also was convicted of a number of serious financial crimes.

[00:01:44]Essentially, the state had had said that for years he had swindled his clients to the tune of millions of dollars. And so, he was convicted on that score and therefore he will not get out of prison.

[00:01:54]But, Joe, this is just a massive, massive victory for Murdoch in in a case that you remember took 6 weeks and the court said we know that this took time and this effort but we have no choice but to overturn that conviction because his rights were violated. Yeah, and in a trial that has absolutely captivated the entire country. Becky Hill was a fascinating figure. Just last year she was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct. She's basically accused of showing sealed evidence to the media, lying under oath about it, using her position to promote a tell-all book that was actually about this trial.

[00:02:28]She pleaded guilty in December, got 3 years of probation. Laura, you covered what's next in this case, but I guess if we have a new trial, the question is sort of how both sides approach this.

[00:02:38]The prosecutors could present the same case, but you have to imagine the defense might think twice about having Murdaugh testify again. Absolutely, and he he would not need to testify and they would not be able to to bring that evidence in and it would certainly be a fight about what the new jury would be able to learn about all of his financial crimes and all all of the like, Joe, but the state's whole whole argument here for why it shouldn't be overturned was the jury heard a mountain of evidence, notwithstanding the Becky Hill issue, that suggested he was guilty. And a jury unanimously found that he was guilty.

[00:03:10]But they'll get a brand new jury, Joe.

[00:03:12]This will not be the same jury. This will not be the same judge, and he may very well decide not to testify in this new case.

[00:03:18]We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.