Death Penalty News

South Carolina didn’t seek a death sentence the first time. Murdaugh is poised to challenge any attempt to do so now as illegally “vindictive.” After South Carolina’s Supreme Court reversed Alex Murdaugh ’s double-murder conviction and life sentence last week, the state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, said the death penalty is “on the table” for a retrial against the ex-attorney who was found guilty in 2023 of killing his wife, Maggie, and their son Paul in 2021. But introducing the prospect of capital punishment could further complicate the state’s case in what’s already been a tortured legal process.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys are questioning a statement from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office about his fate after a retrial. Murdaugh, who was convicted in 2023 of killing his wife and son, was granted a new trial by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Attorney General Alan Wilson issued a statement saying, ”In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty." Murdaugh’s lawyers held a press conference on Monday to discuss a related federal lawsuit he has filed against the former Colleton County clerk of court. “I had hoped that would have been the main topic of this press conference, but over the weekend we learned that the Attorney General has announced he’s considering the death penalty in this case,” attorney Dick Harpootlian said. “Clearly, he is not talking to the lawyers in his office. He’s probably talking to his ...

Alan Wilson said prosecutors are “back to square one” and all legal options are on the table. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Friday that his office may pursue the death penalty when it retries Alex Murdaugh in the 2021 murder of his son and wife. “In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty,” Wilson said. The state’s high court reversed Murdaugh’s double murder conviction in an opinion published Wednesday that accused a former court clerk of “egregious” jury interference.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to overturn the 2023 double murder conviction of disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh. In its 27-page, 5-0 ruling issued on Wednesday, the court determined that jury tampering by former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill denied Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.  Murdaugh’s case will now return to circuit court, where he is eligible for a new trial. He stands accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at the family’s rural estate in Colleton County on the evening of June 7, 2021.

The Attorney General's office cites the complexity and length of the case as reasons for needing an extension until August 8th The South Carolina Attorney General's Office is seeking more time to respond to convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh's Supreme Court appeal brief, but Murdaugh's attorneys are strongly contesting that request. On April 3, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson's office filed a motion for a second extension in Murdaugh's state Supreme Court appellate case, and the same day, Murdaugh's legal team promptly responded in opposition.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to hear convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh’s jury tampering appeal. The order, issued Tuesday, means the case will go straight to the high court, skipping the lengthy Court of Appeals process. The state Supreme Court could overturn a judge’s decision from earlier this year that denied Murdaugh’s attempt to get a new murder trial.

“Mr. Murdaugh’s right to have his appeal heard by an impartial judge will be violated if Judge Newman proceeds to hear his motion for a new trial,” a new motion says. As Alex Murdaugh’s legal team pushes for a new murder trial, they have a bold request for the South Carolina Supreme Court: ban Judge Clifton Newman from having anything to do with the case. In a Wednesday filing, defense lawyers argued that Newman should be removed from future hearings related to Murdaugh’s double homicide case, claiming that the judge who presided over the murder trial cannot be impartial.

Oct 17 (Reuters) - The South Carolina court of appeals on Tuesday ruled that Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, a lawyer found guilty of murdering his wife and son, can ask a lower court judge to toss out his conviction due to allegations of jury tampering.  Lawyers for Murdaugh, who has maintained his innocence, said in a statement that they would now seek "a full blown evidentiary hearing" in a lower court on their allegations that the Colleton County Clerk of Court, Rebecca Hill, improperly communicated with jurors as they weighed Murdaugh's case.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh on Thursday filed a notice to appeal his convictions for the murder of his wife and son along with his life sentence. The trial in rural South Carolina lasted six weeks and included more than 75 witnesses, but culminated in a jury taking less than three hours to find the 54-year-old Murdaugh guilty last week. Murdaugh called 911 on the evening of June 7, 2021, saying he found his son and wife dead when he returned home from a one-hour visit with his mother, who has dementia. Authorities said Paul Murdaugh, 22, was shot twice with a shotgun, each round loaded with different sized shot, while Maggie Murdaugh, 52, was struck with four or five bullets from a rifle. A crime scene report suggested that both victims were shot in the head after initially being wounded near dog kennels on the Murdaughs’ sprawling rural property.

The murder case is the latest reminder that the nation's death rows are places often populated by poor Black men. Alex Murdaugh received two consecutive life sentences on Friday after he was convicted of committing crimes that might well have led to a death sentence in South Carolina and other death penalty states. From beginning to end, his case put opponents of capital punishment in a bind. They could applaud the prosecution’s decision not to seek such a sentence, but it is hard to ignore the fact that that the decision provided yet another example of racial and class privilege in the death penalty system . The Murdaugh case is the latest reminder that death row, as the Los Angeles Times once put it , “isn't a high-income neighborhood.” Throughout U.S. history, it has been a place heavily populated by poor Black men .