Three years after Alex Murdaugh's double-murder trial ended with two life sentences, the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday granted him a new trial in the killings of his wife and son. Murdaugh's defense team argued that a court clerk tampered with the jury in the original murder trial.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices said that Becky Hill, the Colleton County clerk of court, "egregiously attacked Murdaugh's credibility and his defense, thus triggering the presumption of prejudice."
The clerk "placed her fingers on the scales of justice," the court's opinion stated.
The state Supreme Court added that "Hill's shocking jury interference was accomplished outside the presence and knowledge of the outstanding trial judge" and attorneys representing both sides of the case.
The 2023 trial transfixed observers far beyond South Carolina, inspiring a Netflix documentary series and numerous podcasts as the inner workings of a powerful and wealthy family were laid bare. In Wednesday's ruling, the state Supreme Court acknowledged that "the eyes of the nation" were on the Murdaugh trial.
In a 27-page opinion, Chief Justice John W. Kittredge along with Associate Justices John Cannon Few; George C. James, Jr.; D. Garrison Hill; and Letitia H. Verdin state that Hill's actions were unprecedented and raised complicated legal issues. But the justices concluded that they must "reverse the post-trial court's denial of Murdaugh's motion and remand for a new trial consistent with this opinion."
The prospect of a new murder trial would not free Murdaugh, 57. He's also serving a 27-year state prison term for stealing some $12 million from his clients and law firm, and a 40-year federal term for wire and bank fraud and money laundering.
Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, and their youngest son, Paul, were shot and killed in 2021 at Moselle, the family's sprawling rural estate in South Carolina's Lowcountry. There were no eyewitnesses, and investigators never produced a murder weapon. But during the trial, Murdaugh admitted he lied to police about his alibi.
Jurors deliberated for about three hours before convicting him on two counts of murder and two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Here's a timeline of the Murdaugh saga:
Feb. 26, 2018: Gloria Satterfield, the family's longtime housekeeper, dies after falling down some steps at Moselle. Prosecutors later say Murdaugh convinced Satterfield's sons that he would help them recover millions of dollars — but kept the money for himself. The case arises during Murdaugh's double-murder trial in 2023.
Feb. 24, 2019: Paul Murdaugh, then 19, is involved in a fatal late-night boating accident.
Authorities say Paul took five friends aboard his family's boat, visiting an oyster roast and a waterfront bar in Beaufort, S.C., an outing confirmed by surveillance video. But then the boat hit a bridge piling and ran aground, killing Mallory Beach, 19.
Medical staff who treated Paul say he was clearly intoxicated, slurring his speech and unsteady on his feet. Paul later pleads not guilty to felony charges of boating under the influence and causing Beach's death. Critics note that he was arraigned more than two months after the accident.
June 7, 2021: Maggie and Paul Murdaugh are killed at Moselle, the family's hunting estate.
Alex Murdaugh calls 911 a little after 10 p.m., saying he just found the bodies of Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, near the home in Islandton, S.C.
"My wife and child have been shot badly!" Alex Murdaugh tells dispatchers.
Two different weapons were used in the killings: an assault-style rifle for Maggie and a shotgun for Paul. The coroner says they died between 9 and 9:30 p.m.
Sept. 3, 2021: Alex Murdaugh is forced to resign from the law firm bearing his family's name; the firm later tells a local news outlet that it determined Murdaugh illegally siphoned millions of dollars from the firm and its clients.
Sept. 4, 2021: Alex Murdaugh calls 911, saying he's been shot in the head while changing a tire on the side of the road. But state investigators say he orchestrated the incident that left him with a superficial wound, even providing a gun to Curtis Edward Smith, 61, to help him carry out insurance fraud and assisted suicide.
Nine days later, Murdaugh admits to the scheme and says it was an attempt to get his older son, Buster, a $10 million insurance payout.
Oct. 14, 2021: Murdaugh is arrested on felony charges, accused of diverting millions of dollars away from the estate of Satterfield, the housekeeper. He is taken into custody in Orlando, Fla., where he had gone to a rehab facility for opioid addiction. In 2022, a court orders Murdaugh to pay more than $4.3 million to the Satterfield family.
May 4, 2022: Prosecutors say a state grand jury indicted Alex Murdaugh on more charges, including fraud and forgery, bringing the total to 79 state charges on 15 indictments. Attorney General Alan Wilson said Murdaugh ran schemes that defrauded victims of $8,492,888.31.
July 12, 2022: The South Carolina Supreme Court formally disbars Murdaugh, noting the attorney's "admissions of unethical conduct in the context of his myriad criminal charges." Murdaugh had been suspended from practicing law the previous September.
July 14, 2022: A grand jury in Colleton County, where Moselle is located, indicts Murdaugh on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division LED Chief Mark Keel says, "Today is one more step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul."
July 20, 2022: Murdaugh pleads not guilty to murdering his wife and son; his defense team says Murdaugh "believes the killer or killers are still at large."
Jan. 23, 2023: Murdaugh's double-murder trial begins at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C. — once a seat of power for the Murdaugh family, which controlled the local prosecutor's office for decades. Murdaugh's great-grandfather, Randolph Murdaugh Sr., was elected to the post in 1920.
During the trial, jurors also hear testimony from victims of Murdaugh's financial crimes. Judge Clifton Newman says the defense opened the door to Murdaugh's financial misdeeds by asking witnesses about Murdaugh's character — and whether they knew of any potential motive that might lead him to kill his own wife and son.
Feb. 23-24, 2023: Murdaugh takes the witness stand during his 6-week trial. He admits to lying to investigators about his alibi, but he says he didn't kill his wife and son.
Before the trial, Murdaugh claimed he wasn't at the family's dog kennel where Maggie and Paul died. But his alibi falls apart in court, after witnesses identify Murdaugh's voice in a cellphone video Paul recorded at the kennel around 8:45 p.m. — minutes before investigators said the shootings occurred. Murdaugh then opts to testify.
"I lied about being down there. And I'm so sorry that I did," he says in court.
March 2, 2023: The jury finds Murdaugh guilty in the 2021 slayings. A day later, Newman sentences Murdaugh to two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Maggie and Paul.
In court, Murdaugh maintains that he is innocent. Newman says perhaps Murdaugh wasn't himself due to his opioid addiction. The judge adds, "It's so unfortunate, because you had such a lovely family of such friendly people — including you. And to go from that to this."
Murdaugh's team tells NPR it will appeal.
Sept. 21, 2023: Murdaugh pleads guilty to 22 federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud and money laundering. The following year, he is sentenced to 40 years in prison as part of a plea deal.
Nov. 28, 2023: In the state's case about Murdaugh's financial crimes, Newman hands down a 27-year prison sentence. The plea deal hearing gives clients who were cheated out of millions of dollars a chance to confront Murdaugh.
Jordan Jinks, a former client and childhood friend of Murdaugh, asks him, "What kind of animal are you?"
Jan. 29, 2024: A state court rejects Murdaugh's bid for a new trial. His team had accused a Colleton County court clerk of jury tampering. The presiding judge, former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal, rules that even if Becky Hill did tell jurors to watch Murdaugh's actions and body language on the stand, the defense didn't prove that such comments directly influenced the guilty verdict.
Dec. 8, 2025: Hill, the former court clerk, pleads guilty to obstruction of justice and perjury, for providing access to graphic photographs from Murdaugh's case and lying about it. She also admits to two counts of misconduct in office, related to promoting her book about the Murdaugh trial and thousands of dollars she paid herself out of official accounts.
Hill is sentenced to probation and community service. A state ethics panel previously found there was probable cause to believe Hill acted improperly dozens of times in her career.
Feb. 11, 2026: Murdaugh's attorneys argue for a new trial before the South Carolina Supreme Court, saying his 6th Amendment right to a fair trial by an impartial jury was violated. The hours-long proceeding focuses on whether jurors might have been wrongly influenced by Hill — and how Toal evaluated that question in 2024.
Citing statements from jurors and a county clerk who aided Hill, Murdaugh's lawyers say Hill urged jurors not to be confused by Murdaugh's defense tactics and to watch his body language — and that she was motivated by plans to publish a book about the case.
But prosecutors argue that the guilty verdict didn't result from Hill's behavior, and they note inconsistencies in jurors' statements about what Hill said. "We all can cherry-pick" some of Hill's statements as being innocuous, Chief Justice John Kittredge says, such as her reportedly telling jurors that Murdaugh's decision to testify promised an "epic day" in court.
"When viewed in isolation, they don't move the needle, arguably," Kittredge says. But when taken together with Hill reportedly urging jurors not to be misled, he adds, "those initial innocuous statements take on a very nefarious message."
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