SC Attorney General fires back at Murdaugh appeal claims

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) — The South Carolina Attorney General’s office filed a 184-page response to Alex Murdaugh’s appeal that claims he did not get a fair trial.

It was filed in court Friday, Aug. 8, the last day paperwork was allowed.

It offers a response to all nine different claims made by the defense, and why the convicted double murderer should stay in a state prison.

The defense has focused on Colleton Clerk Becky Hill “tainting” the jury with comments that Alex Murdaugh’s testimony during the trial was “fleeting and foolish”.

In their response, the AG’s office denies Hill said anything that would have changed the jury’s verdict.

Hill does face criminal charges of obstruction of justice for her conduct in office. She is not accused of jury tampering.

Murdaugh and his attorneys have a series of issues with some of Judge Clifton Newman’s rulings, including allowing testimony about Murdaugh’s financial crimes, which he eventually pleaded guilty to in federal court, into his murder trial.

There were a total of 19 victims identified, at least $9 million stolen.

Wilson says that the judge has discretion to allow testimony like that. Those witnesses and that information goes back to their theory that Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul back in June of 2021 because his financial schemes were about to be revealed.

The killings happened just days before more evidence and financial information was set to be released in the civil case connected to the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.

Paul Murdaugh was driving the boat that crashed in March of 2020, throwing Beach from the boat into the water. It took almost a full week before her body was found.

Paul Murdaugh was criminally charged in that crash, and sued by the Beach family. Discovery in that case was due just days before the murders.

Alex Murdaugh is in a South Carolina state prison serving two life sentences. He has also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for a series of financial crimes.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has not set a date to hear his murder conviction appeal. A decision is not expected to come until at least next Spring.