Alex Murdaugh Gets Bad News in Quest for New Murder Trial

Convicted murderer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh and his defense team now face a tall order in the request for a new murder trial after a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, South Carolina judge Jean Toal said she will limit witness questioning and set a "high burden of proof" surrounding the accusations that Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill tampered with the jury during last year's dramatic double murder trial.

Murdaugh is facing two life sentences without parole after a jury found him guilty in March 2023 of killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, in June 2021. The disgraced lawyer also faces an additional 27 years after pleading guilty in November to stealing millions of dollars from former clients and colleagues.

Evidentiary hearings for the retrial request begin January 29 and will include Hill and the murder trial's deliberating jurors.

According to the Associated Press, Toal ruled that, even if Murdaugh's lawyers prove that Hill told jurors not to believe his testimony and pressured the jury into reaching a guilty verdict, they must also show that she did so with prejudice against Murdaugh.

Toal also announced she will not ask about other accusations of wrongdoing against Hill, including the misuse of public funds and plagiarized aspects of her book, Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.

Mandy Powers Norrell, a South Carolina attorney who has followed the Murdaugh saga, told Newsweek that Toal's rulings were "blow after blow" to the defense team.

"In the end, she was very narrow with the standard. The only thing that matters is if a court official communicated with jurors in a way that changed their verdict," she said. "Everything that comes before her has to be narrowly tailored to that allegation."

Charlie Condon, the former Attorney General of South Carolina, said on X:

"Big blow today to Alex Murdaugh's new trial effort. Justice Toal ruled not only must the defense prove jury tampering; under State vs. Green they must also demonstrate the tampering influenced the guilty verdicts. To date, there is no evidence the verdicts were affected by jury tampering."

Toal also said she's hesitant to accept Hill's emails as exhibits in the upcoming hearings.

"I'm very, very reluctant to turn this hearing about juror contact into a wholesale exploration about every piece of conduct by the clerk alleged to have been improper on its own, indicative of her characteristics or personality, or anything of that nature," Toal said. "This is not the trial of Ms. Hill," she later added.

Toal struck Murdaugh's team again by blocking questions about what effect the alleged jury tampering might have had on their deliberations. She said she would only ask jurors about its possible impact on their final conclusion.

On Tuesday, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian argued that Hill's unpublished book is relevant because it establishes a motive for her alleged actions. Harpootlian claimed that Hill told an assistant during the trial that a guilty verdict would be good for her book sales.

Toal then scolded Murdaugh's lawyer.

"I hope that's the last time you're gonna repeat that until I ask for that again," Toal said at one point. "Let's move on from that."

Murdaugh could be seen lowering his head as Toal set her standards.

"It was very clear that he understood, that as soon as she ruled on the standards, it was essentially over," Powers Norrell told Newsweek.

Toal took over the request for a new trial after Clifton Newman, who oversaw the double murder trial, recused himself. The judge also ruled she will not seek testimony from Newman.