Overview
- South Carolina’s high court, in a unanimous ruling Wednesday, vacated the 2023 verdict after finding clerk Becky Hill improperly swayed jurors with comments such as “watch his body language” and “don’t be fooled.”
- The opinion faulted the trial judge for allowing extensive testimony about Murdaugh’s thefts and said any retrial must sharply limit that financial‑crime evidence.
- Attorney General Alan Wilson said he will seek a new trial, and the case now returns to circuit court for scheduling and pretrial fights over what the jury can hear.
- Murdaugh remains in prison on separate sentences for dozens of financial crimes, including concurrent terms of 27 years in state court and 40 years in federal court.
- Prosecutors relied on circumstantial proof at the first trial, as investigators never found the murder weapons and no DNA or blood evidence linked Murdaugh to the shootings.