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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina’s top prosecutor has made it abundantly clear he intends to retry disgraced attorney and confessed fraudster Alex Murdaugh for the murders of his wife and younger son after the state’s supreme court emphatically reversed Murdaugh’s convictions for those crimes earlier this week.
While the court’s unanimous decision elevated the degree of difficulty in retrying Murdaugh – limiting the extent to which prosecutors can rely on the financial crimes that helped convict him the first time – attorney general Alan Wilson isn’t just doubling down, he’s anteing up.
In a statement provided to NBC’s Craig Melvin, Wilson made it clear his office is putting the death penalty back on the table as it relates to Murdaugh’s second trial.
“In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty,” Wilson said.
Prior to the first Murdaugh trial, FITSNews devoted extensive ink to the question of whether the state would seek the death penalty against Murdaugh (something prosecutors ultimately declined to do).
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Clearly, Wilson’s calculus is changing ahead of the anticipated second trial – which he has insisted would take place sometime this calendar year in the same venue (Colleton County) as the initial proceedings. Wilson, one of the frontrunners for South Carolina’s governor’s mansion, is not seeking a fifth term as attorney general – meaning he will be leaving the office in January 2027.
As we reported last week, though, all of the candidates vying to replace him are on board with retrying Murdaugh – who was originally convicted in March 2023 of murdering his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and his younger son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, on the evening of June 7, 2021. He was sentenced to consecutive life terms in prison by now-retired S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman.
This week, those convictions were tossed by the high court due to documented jury tampering by former Colleton County clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill. The justices also cited issues with Newman admitting too much information tied to Murdaugh’s financial crimes – which they concluded created a “considerable danger of unfair prejudice.”
With the prosecution now duly warned to limit this evidence during a second trial, the state’s path to securing convictions a second time would appear to have grown narrower.
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— FITSNews (@fitsnews) May 15, 2026
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However, there is a factor that could explain why Wilson is putting the death penalty back on the table – even as the degree of difficulty related to the case has ticked up.
When Wilson initially decided not to seek the death penalty against Murdaugh, South Carolina was in the midst of a thirteen-year moratorium on capital punishment due to a combination of factors – including legal challenges to its various methods of carrying out the sentence. In other words, even if Wilson has secured a capital sentence against Murdaugh in 2023, the state had “no way of carrying out the sentence” at the time.
That moratorium ended on September 20, 2024, when convicted killer Freddie Eugene Owens was put to death for the 1997 murder of 41-year-old Irene Graves of Greenville, S.C. Six additional convicted killers have been put to death by the state since then – including three who were executed by firing squad.
South Carolina provides for the death penalty in murder cases provided a “statutory aggravating circumstance is found beyond a reasonable doubt.” These aggravating circumstances are specifically enumerated in the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 16-3-20) – and are determined on a case-by-case basis in proceedings which are held separately from the murder trial once a guilty plea or verdict has been entered into the record.
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If a defendant in a capital case pleads guilty before trial, the sentencing decision falls to a circuit court judge. If a defendant is found guilty by a jury of his or her peers during a public trial, the decision is made by the same trial jury which heard the original case. Like the determination of a defendant’s guilt, any aggravating factors must be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” for the death penalty to be imposed.
As we noted in our previous coverage, the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ clearly fall under at least one of the aggravating circumstances – namely the fact that “two or more persons were (allegedly) murdered by the defendant by one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct.”
If Wilson seeks the death penalty against Murdaugh, he would be required to notify the defendant’s attorneys of his decision within thirty days of the start of the retrial – which has yet to be scheduled.
According to the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 16-3-26), “whenever the solicitor seeks the death penalty he shall notify the defense attorney of his intention to seek such penalty at least thirty days prior to the trial of the case.”
This is a developing story… please check back for updates.
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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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1 comment
I bet that made old Alec’s butt pucker.