The South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously overturned Alex Murdaugh's double murder convictions on May 13, 2026, ordering a new trial in the June 2021 killings of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul [1][2]. The 5-0 ruling vacated the two life sentences Murdaugh received following his March 2023 conviction in Colleton County [1]. He remains incarcerated on separate federal and state sentences stemming from financial crimes convictions [2].
The court's ruling centered on conduct by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill, who made comments to jurors during deliberations that, the court found, improperly urged them to discount Murdaugh's credibility and testimony [1][2][3]. The justices concluded that Hill's interference denied Murdaugh his constitutional right to a fair trial, a finding that reached across the entire trial record rather than a narrow evidentiary question [2]. Hill had been a prominent public figure during the original proceedings, authoring a book about the case while the trial was ongoing [3].
The ruling places the prosecution in the hands of South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson's office, which must decide whether to retry Murdaugh [2]. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian, who argued the jury-tampering claims on appeal, had pressed the court to find that Hill's conduct was both intentional and outcome-determinative [1][2]. The attorney general's office has not publicly announced a retrial timeline. Five days after the ruling, on May 18, 2026, Murdaugh filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Hill, escalating the legal consequences of her alleged conduct beyond the criminal appellate context [1].
Murdaugh's financial crimes sentences, which total decades across the federal and state systems, remain unaffected by the murder ruling [2][3]. Any retrial would proceed in South Carolina state court, likely requiring new venue and jury selection procedures given the extensive pretrial publicity the case has generated since 2021. The outcome of a retrial, should the state pursue one, would determine whether Murdaugh faces reinstatement of life sentences on the murder counts, though his release on those financial convictions remains years away regardless.