Disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh recently received a second lease on life through a new trial.
But that could make things much worse for him.
“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,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson told Fox News, referring to the South Carolina Supreme Court.
The death penalty would be a serious escalation from the two life sentences with which he was originally saddled following a harrowing trial that captured national attention.
Murdaugh became a semi-household name in 2021 when his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, were found dead at the family’s hunting property. He immediately became a suspect and was subsequently brought in and charged.
This would eventually lead to a nationally covered trial in 2023, where Murdaugh would be convicted on two counts of murder and given two life sentences.
However, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned those convictions earlier this week, setting up what should be quite a retrial.
But while Wilson is preparing for the looming legal showdown — with thoughts of the death penalty lurking — so too is Murdaugh’s legal team. And according to the New York Post, it’s rather significant.
Murdaugh’s legal team is claiming that not all of the DNA evidence was presented at trial. Specifically, the team is claiming that there was unidentified male DNA — belonging to neither Alex nor Paul — found under Maggie’s nails.
Jim Griffin, the lead attorney for Murdaugh, told NewsNation, “That has never been followed up on.”
Griffin added, “As we pointed out in the first trial… the state law enforcement investigators were singularly focused on Alex Murdaugh and ignored evidence of other potential murderers.”
Murdaugh’s national attention-grabbing convictions were overturned on Wednesday due to the South Carolina Supreme Court finding significant enough issue with the behavior of the trial’s clerk of court, Rebecca Hill.
Previously, Murdaugh’s legal team accused Hill of essentially tampering with the jury’s ability to be impartial by fishing for a guilty verdict to better help sell her tell-all memoir about the trial.
The state’s Supreme Court found enough there to overturn the original convictions and send the case back to trial.
But while the murder convictions may ultimately stay overturned, Wilson has made clear that Murdaugh would remain on the hook for charges related to him stealing millions of dollars from his now-former law firm.
“While we respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision, my Office will aggressively seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders of Maggie and Paul as soon as possible,” Wilson said, per WYFF-TV. “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.”
Murdaugh is currently serving concurrent 40-year federal and 27-year state sentences for his financial crimes.
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