WSJ Reporter on ‘Shocking’ Turn in Murdaugh Court Saga

So, I've been covering the case of Alec Murdoch for five years, and it has been full of twists and turns, but none quite like today. The South Carolina Supreme Court decided unanimously, all five justices, that Alec Murdoch deserves a new trial on the basis of jury tampering on behalf of the former clerk of court. They say she was in the ear of jurors in a completely inappropriate way, telling them what to think about his testimony when he took the stand back in February of 2023 for two kind of blockbuster days. And so this was shocking. — I sentence you to prison for murdering him. — So y'all remember Alec Murdoch was convicted in March of 23 in the homicides of his wife Maggie and son Paul. And the prosecutors argued effectively over the course of six weeks what they said he did to effectively create a diversion from the thefts, millions and millions of dollars he was stealing from clients of his personal injury law firm. And now we will have a doover because almost as soon as the Supreme Court announced that they he was entitled to a new trial, the attorney general of South Carolina, Alan Wilson, said today that he intends to prosecute him again. Now there'll be a couple things that are different. Dick Harput, the lead defense lawyer, told me recently he would ask for a change of venue and that there would be a considerable debate about whether Alec Murdoch takes the stand a second time. It was a very risky move at the time and remains so. There will also be maybe a little bit less talk about his financial wrongdoing. You know, he stole these millions of dollars from motherless children, a quadriplegic teenager. So, it's a surprising day. And I didn't think I had the capability to be surprised by this case anymore.