---------------------------------------------
MAJOR DEVELOPMENT: PROSECUTORS PLAN TO RETRY ALEX MURDAUGH: (The CBC reports);
"Prosecutors say they plan to retry Murdaugh, which likely means there will be another lengthy trial in the case that has become a true crime sensation because of its combination of money, power, Southern accents and treachery. It has spawned several streaming miniseries, best-selling books and dozens of true-crime podcasts. Murdaugh, 57, will remain in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million US from his clients and currently is serving a 40-year federal sentence. Prosecutors said they would aggressively seek to try Murdaugh again on the murder charges, with state Attorney General Alan Wilson saying he respected the court's decision but no one is above the law. Murdaugh's lawyers pointed out that trial will look a lot different, as the justices also ruled days of evidence at the murder trial about how Murdaugh stole from clients — many of them in dire straits — shouldn't be allowed next time."
-----------------------------------------
STORY: "South Carolina Supreme Court overturns Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions in deaths of wife and son," by Associated Press Reporter Jeffrey Collins, published by PBS on May 13, 2026.
GIST: "The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions and life sentence of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh in the shooting deaths of his wife and younger son.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices said the conduct by the court clerk “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted. They also said the trial judge went too far in allowing evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes into his murder trial
But Murdaugh won’t be getting out of prison. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and currently is serving a 40-year federal sentence.
Still, the state Supreme Court ruling is a win for Murdaugh, who admits to being a thief, liar, insurance cheat and bad lawyer, but has adamantly denied killing his wife Maggie and younger son Paul since he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.
Prosecutors didn’t immediately say if they planned to retry Murdaugh for the murders in light of his long sentence for financial crimes. The original trial took six weeks.
The justices ruled Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill, assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, influenced jurors to find Murdaugh guilty. She hoped to improve sales of a book she was writing about the case.
The name of the book was “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.” It was pulled from publication after plagiarism allegations were made.
“As her book’s title suggests, it turns out Hill was quite busy behind the doors of justice, thwarting the integrity of the justice system she was sworn to protect and uphold,” the justices wrote in an unsigned 27-page ruling.
Hill has since pleaded guilty to lying about what she said and did to a different judge.
Murdaugh’s lawyers also argued before the high court that the judge at his 2023 trial made rulings that prevented a fair trial, such as allowing in evidence of Murdaugh stealing from clients that had nothing to do with the killings but biased jurors against him.
They detailed the lack of physical evidence — no DNA or blood was found splattered on Murdaugh or any of his clothes, even though the killings were at close range with powerful weapons that were never found.
Prosecutors argued that the clerk’s comments were fleeting and the evidence against Murdaugh was overwhelming. His lawyer said that didn’t matter because the comments a juror said she made — urging jurors to watch Murdaugh’s body language and listen to his testimony carefully — removed his presumption of innocence before the jury ever deliberated.
Murdaugh’s legal drama continues to captivate. There have been streaming miniseries, best selling books and dozens of true crime podcasts about how the multimillionaire Southern lawyer whose family dominated and controlled the legal system in tiny Hampton County ended up in a maximum security South Carolina prison.
The justices in their ruling praised prosecutors, the defense team and the judge for outstanding work, heaping all the blame for having to try Murdaugh again on Hill.
Hill’s attorney in her criminal case didn’t return a phone call or email seeking comment.
Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury,” the justices wrote. “Our justice system provides — indeed demands — that every person is entitled to a fair trial."
The entire story can be read at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=en#all/QgrcJHrnvDkZdpSjDRLNqbgdrHLZvlzTqXV
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
