Former attorney Alex Murdaugh received a 40-year prison sentence in federal court for his financial crimes. United States District Judge Richard M. Gergel handed down the sentence on April 1 at the United States District Courthouse in Charleston. In this latest episode, Anne Emerson, Drew Tripp, and Charlie Condon discuss new information learned from the federal sentencing, which includes $6 million in missing money, 11 new unknown victims, and an alleged unnamed codefendant to Murdaugh's crimes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com ..read more

Alex Murdaugh's bid for a retrial falls short as Justice Jean Toal rules Becky Hill's likely improper contact with jurors didn't rise to the level of prejudicial jury tampering. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ..read more

Alex Murdaugh's defense team entered the ring throwing haymakers in a pre-hearing status conference on January 16th, hoping to bludgeon open a clear path to a retrial in Murdaugh's murder case. But retired South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal, the newly appointed judge on the case, parried and rebuffed Murdaugh's ambitious volleys in stunning and decisive fashion. Now Murdaugh's opening to land the decisive blow against his dual murder convictions and life sentence appears vanishingly small. Join Anne Emerson, Charlie Condon and Drew Tripp as they recap the important day in cou ..read more

Did Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill have improper communications with jurors during Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial? If so, did she create bias or prejudice among jurors potentially influencing their verdict and warranting a retrial? Those are the two primary questions needing answers when state prosecutors and Murdaugh’s defense lawyers meet in court January 29 in a pivotal hearing to decide if Murdaugh’s dual convictions for the murders of his wife and son were fair and will stand. Murdaugh’s defense lawyers in a brief filed ahead of the hearing adamantly argue the answer to both ques ..read more

State investigators have found evidence linking a Colleton County government wiretapping scandal involving Jeffrey Hill to a public ethics complaint against his mother, the county’s elected clerk of court, Becky Hill. In this episode, former S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon tells hosts Anne Emerson and Drew Tripp how the ethics complaint and attacks on Hill's character might impact a potential retrial for convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh. BACKGROUND: The date of the wiretapping incident involving Jeffrey Hill came in late July 2023, about a month after someone filed an ethics com ..read more

A tenuous sense of finality has spread across the South Carolina Lowcountry like a late November cold front as another chapter in Alex Murdaugh's seemingly unending criminal saga comes to a close. Getting there, the world heard for the first time this week the raw emotional catharsis of several families victimized by Alex Murdaugh's beguiling treachery. Friends, peers and clients alike unleashed years of pent-up anger and disappointment in Murdaugh Tuesday as he was formally sentenced to 27 years in prison for his many frauds, thefts, forgeries and lies. To some, the sentence only serves to fu ..read more

The legal maneuvering never ceases where Alex Murdaugh is concerned. This week, Murdaugh attorney Dick Harpootlian is once again raising concerns that his client won't be able to get a fair jury trial due to media attention when the Satterfield fraud and money laundering case goes to court on November 27 in Beaufort County. Harpootlian says a sampling of responses from potential jurors on pre-trial questionnaires show Murdaugh might find it impossible in "beautiful Beaufort by the sea" to find a juror who's a blank slate. Harpootlian now wants the case moved out of not only Beaufort, but of th ..read more

Alex Murdaugh's lawyers have taken the extraordinary step of asking the Supreme Court of South Carolina to remove Judge Clifton Newman as the presiding judge in the Murdaugh cases. The petition cites the fact Judge Newman himself may be a witness in the looming retrial hearing over jury tampering allegations in the Murdaugh murder trial. The request to have Judge Newman taken off the cases also wades into the territory of potential misconduct and bias on the judge's part for statements made since the jury returned its guilty verdict against Murdaugh for the killings of his wife and son. Join h ..read more

Alex Murdaugh entered a guilty plea Thursday to federal fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges, marking the first formal acknowledgment of guilt by the disgraced former attorney. But of course, nothing in the Murdaugh case could ever be so straightforward. The hearing concluded with Murdaugh's attorneys requesting Judge Richard Gergel sign an immediate forfeiture order for Alex's assets to be seized by the federal government. Lawyers Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian projected altruism for Murdaugh's victims and cited a need to prevent other lawyers from "burning off" the money recovered ..read more

South Carolina prosecutors have filed their response to Alex Murdaugh's request for a new murder trial based on jury tampering allegations. The Attorney General's office concedes a hearing may be needed, but says "significant factual disputes" have already been revealed in the ongoing investigation. Meantime, Judge Clifton Newman this week sentenced Murdaugh co-conspirator Cory Fleming to 20 year in state prison on fraud and money laundering charges. Anne, Charlie and Drew have the details in this lengthy breakdown from a busy week in the Murdaugh criminal saga. See Privacy Policy at https://a ..read more