Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina lawyer, was tried in 2023 for the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, in Colleton County on June 7, 2021. On March 2, 2023 a jury found him guilty of two counts of murder and two related weapons counts. The next day the trial judge imposed two consecutive life sentences. He denied the charges throughout.
Those convictions no longer stand. On May 13, 2026 the Supreme Court of South Carolina unanimously reversed the denial of his motion for a new trial and remanded the case for a new trial, vacating the verdicts and the life sentences in Opinion No. 28329. The court found that the county clerk of court had improperly influenced the jury. The Attorney General's office has said the State will retry him. As of November 12, 2026 no retrial has been held; it is scheduled for April 2027, and he remains in custody in South Carolina on separate financial-crime sentences.
The case was tried in Colleton County in early 2023. The trial lasted about six weeks. On March 2, 2023 the jury returned guilty verdicts on all four counts: two counts of murder, one for the death of his wife and one for the death of his son, and two related weapons counts. On March 3, 2023 the presiding judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole on each murder count, the two terms to run consecutively.
Separately, he pleaded guilty in state and federal court to financial crimes against clients and his family's former law firm, and is serving a 27-year state sentence and a concurrent 40-year federal sentence imposed on April 1, 2024; the 2026 ruling does not affect them.
After the verdicts his lawyers moved for a new trial, alleging that the county clerk of court, the official who oversaw the jury during the trial, had interfered with the jurors. In January 2024 a retired chief justice, sitting as the post-trial judge, denied the motion, finding that the defense had not proved the clerk's comments directly influenced the verdict. The clerk of court later pleaded guilty to criminal charges connected with her conduct.
His attorneys argued the appeal before the Supreme Court of South Carolina on February 11, 2026. They said that his right to an impartial jury had been violated.
The court issued an unsigned 27-page opinion on May 13, 2026, and all five justices joined it. It held that the clerk of court had "placed her fingers on the scales of justice" and denied him a fair trial by an impartial jury. The court said jurors had testified that she told them to watch his demeanor and not to be fooled, and that she had called the day of his testimony an important one. It found that her remarks attacked his credibility and his defense, and that the post-trial court had addressed only some of the comments jurors described. It also found that her motive was tied to a book she was writing about the trial.
The court placed the responsibility for the reversal on the clerk of court alone and praised the trial prosecutors, the defense team and the trial judge. It also found that the trial court had allowed the State too much evidence of financial crimes with which he was not charged, spending roughly 12.5 hours across ten days on the subject, and cautioned that the next trial should limit it.
The Attorney General said his office respectfully disagreed with the decision and would seek to retry him as soon as possible. The defense called the ruling proof that the rule of law remains strong in South Carolina.
A status conference was held in Lexington on June 29, 2026, where the new trial judge set the retrial for April 5, 2027 and said she did not grant continuances. On August 14, 2026 she ruled that the trial would leave the 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Colleton County. On September 8, 2026 she named Sumter County as the venue, finding actual juror prejudice, a high rate of disqualification during the 2023 jury selection, the small size of Colleton County and its long association with the family, the Supreme Court's finding about the clerk of court, and the extent of publicity. Pretrial hearings continue in Lexington County.
Further pretrial hearings were held on October 16, 2026 and set for November 13, 2026.
The convictions of 2023 have been vacated, and he is presumed innocent of the murder charges pending the retrial. He denied them at trial. The State maintains the charges and has said it will retry him. The Supreme Court did not rule on whether he committed the offenses; it ruled that the jury process was unfair.
June 7, 2021: his wife and son die in Colleton County, South Carolina.
January to March 2023: jury selection and trial in Colleton County.
March 2, 2023: guilty verdicts on two counts of murder and two related weapons counts.
March 3, 2023: two consecutive life sentences.
September 2023: guilty pleas to 22 federal financial-crime counts.
2023: 27-year state sentence for financial crimes.
January 2024: post-trial court denies the new-trial motion.
April 1, 2024: 40-year federal sentence.
February 11, 2026: argument before the Supreme Court of South Carolina.
May 13, 2026: convictions and life sentences vacated; new trial ordered.
June 29, 2026: retrial set for April 5, 2027.
August 14, 2026: trial ordered out of the 14th Judicial Circuit.
September 8, 2026: Sumter County named as venue.
October 16, 2026: pretrial hearing in Lexington.
November 13, 2026: next pretrial hearing scheduled.