Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions overturned by South Carolina supreme court

The South Carolina supreme court on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh , the disgraced South Carolina attorney, due to “shocking jury interference” and ordered a new trial in the 2021 killing of his wife and son. “Our justice system provides – indeed demands – that every person is entitled to a fair trial, which includes an impartial jury untainted by external forces bent on influencing the jury toward a biased verdict,” the justices wrote in a unanimous opinion . “Although we are aware of the time, money, and effort expended for this lengthy trial, we have no choice but to reverse the denial of Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial,” they said, because of what they described as “improper external influences on the jury” by a court clerk during the trial. The justices wrote that the Colleton county clerk of court, who was assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility and his defense, thus triggering the presumption of prejudice, which the State was unable to rebut”. …