Alex Murdaugh trial juror speaks out on court’s ‘crazy’ decision to overturn double-murder conviction
A juror from Alex Murdaugh's murder trial says she is shocked by the decision to overturn the convictions of killing his wife and son.
The South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the 57-year-old's 2023 murder convictions on Wednesday (13 May) after deciding former court clerk Becky Hill unfairly biased a jury against him.
Murdaugh - who was serving two life sentences for the 2021 murders of Maggie, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22 - will now get a new trial.
He is still serving 27 and 40-year sentences after pleading guilty to stealing roughly $12 million from clients and his former law firm.
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In their ruling, the court said as her book titled Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders suggests, 'it turns out Hill was quite busy behind the doors of justice, thwarting the integrity of the justice system she was sworn to protect and uphold'.
"The book was pulled from publication because Hill plagiarized portions of it," the justices wrote.
Despite the verdict, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office would 'aggressively seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders of Maggie and Paul as soon as possible'.
“Let me be clear — this decision does not mean Murdaugh will be released. He will remain in prison for his financial crimes. No one is above the law and, as always, we will continue to fight for justice,” Wilson said.
However, Juror Ami Williams has insisted that she wasn't influenced by Hill and called the court's decision crazy.
“I never felt that the clerk of court was pushing an agenda or trying to push me to come to a certain verdict,” Williams told NBC News Wednesday. “Never felt that way about her at all.”
Juror Mandy Pearce thought Hill, who plead guilty to charges of misconduct in office, obstruction of justice and perjury in December, kept Murdaugh from getting a fair trial.
“I feel like justice wasn’t served, that he didn’t get a fair trial,” she said.
Murdaugh’s lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said in a joint statement that they have 'said from day one that he did not kill his wife and son' and that they 'look forward to a new trial'.
"Finding fair and impartial jurors that can leave anything they may have seen or heard outside of the courtroom will be difficult," New York Law School professor, Anna Cominsky, told the BBC.
"It will be the rare juror that knows nothing about the case, rather they will be looking for jurors that can contain their analysis to only the evidence in front of them during the new trial."
A timeline of the murder cases against Alex Murdaugh
26 February 2018
Gloria Satterfield, the family's housekeeper, dies after falling down some steps at their hunting lodge, called Moselle. The case would later come up at Murdaugh's 2023 double-murder trial, where prosecutors accused Murdaugh of convincing Satterfield's sons to sue him in a scheme to get them an insurance settlement - but then kept the money for himself.
24 February 2019
Murdaugh's son, Paul, then 19, is involved in a fatal late-night boating accident. Paul had been on the boat with a group of friends when it hit a bridge piling, killing Mallory Beach, 19.
Medics who treated Paul at the time say he was drunk. Paul later pleads not guilty to felony charges of boating under the influence and causing Beach's death.
7 June 2021
Just after 10.00pm, Murdaugh calls the police to report that his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son, Paul, 22, have been fatally shot at Moselle. The coroner says the pair died between 9.00pm and 9.30pm.
3 September 2021
Murdaugh is forced to resign from his family's law firm, with the firm later claiming to local outlet The Island Packet that he illegally took money from the business.
4 September 2021
Murdaugh is on the phone to 911 again, this time to report he's been shot in the head while changing his car tyre. According to officials, he made attempts to arrange his own death to get his hands on a $10 million life insurance payment for his surviving son. The wound was superficial, with the bullet grazing his head.
14 October 2021
Murdaugh is arrested while at a drug rehab facility - where he was staying due to opioid addiction - after being accused of stealing insurance settlements worth more than $4 million intended for the sons of his late housekeeper.
17 November 2021
Prosecutors lay out 27 new charges against Murdaugh, alleging he stole $5 million in settlement money.
18 January 2022
Murdaugh now faces 71 charges, accused of stealing nearly $8.5 million in wrongful death and wreck settlements.
4 May 2022
More charges are added, according to prosecutors. Now, Murdaugh faces a total of 79 state charges on 15 indictments, including fraud and forgery.
28 June 2022
In fresh indictments, prosecutors allege Murdaugh is involved in a money laundering and painkiller scheme spanning nearly a decade.
14 July 2022
Murdaugh is charged with murder in the deaths of his wife and son.
23 January 2023
Murdaugh's double murder trial begins.
23 February 2023
Murdaugh denies killing his wife and son, but admits lying to police about when he last saw them alive.
2 March 2023
Following a six-week trial, the jury convicts Murdaugh on two counts of murder. The following day, he is sentenced to life in prison.
28 January 2024
Murdaugh is denied a new trial after his defence team put in a bid, accusing a clerk of tampering with a jury.
2 April 2024
Murdaugh is sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for stealing from clients and his law firm.
11 February 2026
Murdaugh makes another bid to the South Carolina Supreme Court to get his murder convictions thrown out.
13 May 2026
The South Carolina Supreme Court overturns Murdaugh’s murder convictions and life sentence after finding court clerk Becky Hill, who was writing a book about the trial, had 'egregiously attacked Murdaugh's credibility and his defence, thus triggering the presumption of prejudice'. As such, he will get a new trial for the murder of his wife and son.
Anish Vij