Disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh was back in court Monday for the first time since his double murder conviction was overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court, at a hearing where a judge set his new trial for next year.
Lexington County Judge Debra McCaslin tentatively set the retrial for April 5, noting that date could get pushed back if there are any delays processing the DNA evidence, according to a report by local outlet WRDW.
The state Supreme Court tossed out the conviction against the disbarred South Carolina attorney for murdering his wife and son in 2021 after it found a clerk in his case tampered with the jury.
Murdaugh is still serving decades behind bars for two convictions for bilking his legal clients.
A new jury will be tasked with determining whether he is guilty of killing his 22-year-old son Paul and his 52-year-old wife Maggie near the dog kennels at their sprawling hunting estate on June 7, 2021. He has maintained his innocence in the killings.
In a May ruling, the state Supreme Court found that ex-clerk Rebecca “Becky” Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice” when she fed sealed crime scene photos to a reporter, attempted to turn jurors against Murdaugh and tried to use her position to push the sale of her memoir about Murdaugh’s case.
She pleaded guilty for her role in tanking the case and Murdaugh has since slapped her with a lawsuit.
Hill is seeking to get the civil case dismissed.
