Overview
- Oral arguments began at 9:30 a.m. in Columbia before the five justices, with a legal-only hearing featuring no witnesses, new evidence, or ruling from the bench.
- Murdaugh’s attorneys urged a new trial, arguing jurors were improperly influenced by then–Colleton County clerk Becky Hill and that extensive financial-crimes testimony unfairly prejudiced the 2023 proceedings.
- The appellate record includes documents on Hill’s December 2025 guilty pleas to perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office, though she was not charged with jury tampering.
- The state argued the jury convicted because the evidence was overwhelming and maintained that any alleged misconduct or trial errors did not affect the verdict.
- Possible outcomes include upholding the convictions, sending the case back to a lower court, or ordering a retrial, and regardless of the decision Murdaugh remains incarcerated on lengthy state and federal financial-crime sentences; he did not attend the hearing.