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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina’s supreme court has yet to issue its decisive ruling on convicted killer Alex Murdaugh‘s high-profile appeal of his two murder convictions (and the two life sentences subsequently imposed upon him as a result).
Speculation about the court’s impending ruling is running rampant, but as of now there is no decision…
Murdaugh was convicted three years ago of the murders of his wife – 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh – and younger son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, at the family’s Colleton County hunting property on the evening of June 7, 2021. Those convictions seem likely to be overturned, however, due to documented jury tampering – and alleged jury rigging – at Murdaugh’s internationally watched double homicide trial.
In fact, some are saying the justices have already made up their minds to reverse Murdaugh’s convictions – and remand his case back to South Carolina’s circuit court.
If the supreme court does kick the case back to the circuit court level… what happens then?
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Our lead researcher Jenn Wood and I will be discussing that potentiality extensively in our upcoming ‘Week in Review‘ episode, but in the meantime we wanted to dispense with potentialities – and get the prosecutors who would decide what happens next on the record as to their intentions.
Specifically, we wanted see what attorney general Alan Wilson – whose office oversaw Murdaugh’s initial prosecution – and the four candidates vying to replace him would do in the increasingly likely event this case comes back.
So… will the anticipated reversal and remand of Murdaugh’s convictions result in a retrial?
Typically, questions like that yield a divergence of opinion… but not in this case.
In this case, the answer is a unanimous and unambiguous “yes.”
Alex Murdaugh will be retried for the murders of his wife and son.
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Wilson’s office confirmed it would retry Murdaugh, although it did not provide us with a statement to that effect prior to this article going to press. Assuming we receive a statement from Wilson, we will update our coverage accordingly.
S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe told us “of course” he would retry the notorious killer.
“There is substantial evidence of guilt,” Pascoe said, noting he had retried murder cases “several times during my career.”
Pascoe also took a mild jab at Wilson’s office, saying he would re-convict Murdaugh “in two weeks or less.”
Murdaugh’s first trial took six weeks, as lead prosecutor Creighton Waters controversially introduced all manner of evidence tied to Murdaugh’s financial crimes, which the state insisted was central to his motive for murder. While that evidence may have helped secure the convictions, a big part of Murdaugh’s appeal maintains this information was improperly admitted into the trial by presiding judge Clifton Newman.
S.C. eighth circuit solicitor David Stumbo also indicated he would be inclined to retry Murdaugh in the event the case gets kicked back to the lower court.
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“I cannot think of a time in my career when I have had a reversal of a homicide (or any other serious case) that I did not schedule for re-trial when it came back from appeal,” Stumbo told us. “So, even though it would be irresponsible of me as a prosecutor to give a definitive answer to that question on a case where I have not personally reviewed all the facts and evidence in the case, there is certainly a very high likelihood that the case would be re-tried if it is reversed and I am the elected attorney general at that time.”
State senator Stephen Goldfinch was actually the first of the five attorneys to respond to our inquiry, telling us immediately – and decisively – that he would retry Murdaugh if the decision falls to him.
“I would,” he said. “And you can count that answer as true, because I don’t have an actual conflict of interest like some others.”
That’s a reference to Pascoe, a longtime political ally of Murdaugh’s lead defense attorney – former state senator Dick Harpootlian.
Charleston, S.C. attorney Richard Hricik, the Democrat nominee for attorney general, also said he would retry Murdaugh.
“Unequivocally yes,” Hricik told us. “The rule of law is the rule of law. When an attorney occupies a position of trust and confidence in a situation like this – and betrays that trust – I think a retrial is in the public interest because of the nature of the crimes and the elevated profile of the case.”
Be on the lookout for our upcoming ‘Week in Review‘ for additional discussion of this case… which certainly appears poised to be the Palmetto State’s ‘Retrial of the Century.’
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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