South Carolina court formally begins Alex Murdaugh murder retrial process
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South Carolina Supreme Court sends Alex Murdaugh murder case back to lower court for retrial; This marked the official beginning of what could become another lengthy courtroom battle in the Lowcountry.
The new court filing states that the application is a “Remittitur” dated May 29 in the name of Richard Alexander Murdaugh.
The referral sends the case back to trial, where prosecutors, defense attorneys and the court will now begin the new murder investigation. This process will likely include scheduling hearings, reviewing pre-trial motions, addressing evidentiary disputes, and setting a possible new trial date.
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Alex Murdaugh is escorted from the Colleton County courthouse on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in Walterboro, SC. He is on trial for the double murder of his son Paul and his wife Maggie in June 2021. (Mark Sims/Fox News Digital)
Murdaugh, a disgraced former South Carolina attorney whose family once wielded enormous legal power in the state’s Lowcountry, was previously convicted in 2021 of the slayings of his wife, Maggie, and young son, Paul, on his rural hunting reservation in Colleton County.
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In May, the South Carolina Supreme Court ordered a retrial in the murder case, overturning one of the state’s most closely watched convictions.
Alex Murdaugh sits with his legal team as jury selection continues ahead of his trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on January 24, 2023. Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul. (Joshua Boucher/Government)
Just because the case has been officially sent back to the lower court doesn’t mean a retrial is imminent.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson previously told Fox News Digital that he hoped to reconsider the infamous case “quickly.”
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Wilson said his office aims to return the case to court within the next year, but acknowledged the timeline is not guaranteed.
“Look, I’m being enthusiastic when I say this, but we want to try to get this case handled before January 2027. That will be our goal,” he said.
Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian speaks to the media with Alex Murdaugh’s defense team after their client was sentenced to double life imprisonment on March 3, 2023. Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul in 2021. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
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Murdaugh’s lead defense attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said the defense will seek a change of venue, attorney-led jury questioning and the potential sequestration of jurors.
“We now have the ability to get people’s social media, their Instagram, all of that,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “And we will investigate this before they have a chance to show up.”
Alex Murdaugh stands during a break in his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Jurors found him guilty. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Pool/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)
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Murdaugh’s retrial came after the state Supreme Court unanimously overturned the disgraced lawyer’s convictions in the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, ruling that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill improperly influenced jurors during the six-week trial.
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Although his murder convictions and subsequent life sentences were overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, he remains in prison serving sentences for his financial crimes.
